Members of the Lakeshore Redevelopment Planning Commission, charged with plotting the future of the former Laconia State School property, say they were surprised to learn that the companion bill to the FY 2022-23 state budget authorized the governor and Executive Council to sell or lease a 200-acre property.

George Bald, who chairs the panel and a mainstay of economic development in the state for decades, says he was not aware the decision to market the property was included in House Bill 2. However, he said, the commission has informed Gov. Chris Sununu of its progress and noted that the governor’s proposed budget includes appropriations for the commission of $350,000 in each year of the upcoming biennium. In any event, Bald said, the commission intends to continue to meet and work. “We want to work ourselves out of a job.”

Mayor Andrew Hosmer of Laconia was disappointed by the governor’s apparent intention to disrupt the process of redeveloping the property as well as at his failure to share his intentions with city officials.

“This is a significant issue for the city,” the mayor said, noting that successive city councils have sought to ensure the redevelopment of the property for more than a decade since the state closed the Lakes Region minimum security prison at the site in 2009.

“The commission has done extraordinary work and added to the value of the property — that could all go for naught,” Hosmer said. He said that he would bring the issue before the city council as well as inform the city’s representatives in the House and Senate. He called the property “a transformational piece of land,” the development of which would bring significant and lasting benefits to the city and region.

A year ago, Sununu expressed misgivings when the commission sought funding in the state capital budget for infrastructure development and environmental remediation, and proposed the commission become the Lakeshore Redevelopment Authority, with authority to issue $5 million in state guaranteed bonds to pursue the project. He said spending more than $1 million or $2 million to prepare the site for a private developer was “inappropriate” and a redevelopment authority a “terrible idea,” something that would operate indefinitely.

Apart from vesting the governor and Executive Council with the “sole authority” to sell or lease the property on terms and conditions they “deem appropriate,” HB 2 would authorize them to act without regard to any other provision of law regarding the sale, lease or other disposal of state property. — MICHAEL KITCH