From a financial viewpoint LL said they have spent $500k in improvements over the 30 years . $200 k for a building the rest was for taxes, lease payments. First the 200 k in building was an asset that is fully recovered through depreciation and a reduction in Fed taxes. The other $300k over 30 years amounts to $10k a year for taxes and lease payments. Can anyone sell millions of dollars of boats on that property and only pay $800 for taxes and lease payments. In addition those are normal cost of doing business and in their tax bracket the net cost after taxes would only be half that amount. They should have made a creditable bid as they have had a great deal over the years and they could then depreciate the cost of the new building over its useful life.

I stand corrected. Thanks

There is always room for compromise in this case between Irwin and Lakeport/Blizzard's but the deep pockets won out this time. However I do not the whole story :confused:

Why should there be a compromise? The city was selling a property and two parties were interested. One party bid modestly above the appraised value and the other party bid significantly below the appraised value? Given the difficult fiscal condition most cities and towns face today it is incumbent to maximize value where possible. If the selectman sold the property to the lower bidder that would be equivalent to stealing from the Laconia tax payers.

The problem is spending the money wisely. With the current track record it will be like throwing money down the drain! :cool:

In today's Saturday Union Leader, article says that Erica Blizzard would have bid more had she known it would go to the highest offer, and she is asking the city council to re-consider their decision.

Sounds like there was some type of miss-communication or miss-understanding between the two parties, the City of Laconia and Erica,or maybe she just got incorrect council from her attorney?

hmmmm.....doesn't a higher price usually send the loudest message?


The vote to accept the higher offer was 4-2 city councilors, so stay tuned to see if the vote is again 4-2 to not re-consider? This seems to be getting over-complicated?

Lakeport Landing (Erica) had her chance to put in her best and final bid. She chose to keep her bid amount the same. Irwin outbid Lakeport and therefore they won the bid. End of story, DONE.

How can anyone running a business not understand the open bidding process? Even worse, how does she continue to carry on like she was fooled? Unbelievable in my opinion. If the bidding is re-opened because Erica did not understand what was happening and then she wins, why would Irwin not bring a costly lawsuit against the City of Laconia?

When you are in the game, you learn the rules before you play the game. Ignorance of the rules is not something you complain about after you lose.

R2B

R2B

I wouldn't worry too much about the bidding process being reopened after Blizzard called out the councilmen in the newspaper. Any chance of a second look at the matter went out the window when she chastised the councilmen publicly.

Well ..... in a few days or so ... time will tell what happens with a possible re-consideration. As already mentioned, the vote to accept the higher offer was 4-2, so's it is probably safe to assume the two will vote yes to a re-consideration, and then it would require just ONE of the four votes to switch for a 3-3 vote. At that point, am not sure what the protocol is..... does a tie 3-3 vote then go to the mayor to decide in case of a tie vote?

And, then the bids would be higher, with more money for the city, so's the city would most likely get a higher price if a re-consideration is the outcome ..... that would make a bigger income .... for the City .... more money, more money, more money....ka-ching, ka-chang, ka-ching ... for the City!

I believe that the reconsideration vote has to come from 2 of the councilman that were in favor of the sale to Irwin not the 2 that opposed the sale.

http://www.laconiadailysun.com/index...er-marina-vote


.... and here's hope'n that this link actually works! Say-hey....it actually works....am I good....or am I good......I am the greatest!:eek: ...ugh!

.....now, back to figuring out what the h is going on with Lakeport Landing and Irwin's as they duke it out for a long narrow .81 acre of land, owned by the City of Laconia, that is apparently very dear to both of them!

What a waste of time and money...

If this property were really important to her, she would have bid accordingly.

Thanks FLL. Blizzard was surprised that the city voted to sell to Irwin? What part of "submit your highest and best offer" did she not understand? Irwin won fair and square. Further, Laconia could use these funds for any of a number of good causes such as reinvestment in the Weirs, etc. I will be dumfounded if their original decision is reversed.

it was not a closed bidding.
 

Irwin's was well aware Blizzard bid, so they bid higher. I'm surprised Blizzard did not counter offer unless Irwin bid was at the last minute and Blizzard did not have a chance to for a counter offer. I've seen this before in other bids around the country. Certainly not fair but like everything else it is a game played within the rules.

Aren't these sealed bids due in hand on a date and time made public to all? If so, there is no counter bidding.

This was a re-bid, so going into it, both parties knew what the other bid on the first round in which both bids were rejected by Laconia as being unacceptably low. That, in itself, told both parties to bring their bids up. Irwin increased their bid, but Blizzard did not.

R2B

Should have put her best foot forward - no surprise who the other bidder would be and their potential motivation.

Once again, she gambled and big. Nothing new...

And likely she will lose big, AGAIN.

Balls
 

It takes a lot of balls to survive in business these days. It takes no balls at all to sit back and criticize someone that you admittedly don't even know. This thread has turned into a disturbing bunch of comments, from people that get big balls behind their keyboard, but really have no balls at all....

Same answer
 

No change... same story......balls or not

It has been covered over and over again. The rules were set in place, Erica didn't listen to what the city was asking for, didn't pony up and lost out. She is crying over spilt milk.

Irwin played by the rules and had bigger ones than she had.

I am a business owner in a market that takes a serious pair to be competitive in. Lots of personal financial risk involved and the reward isn't what it used to be, so I do take exception to your comment of being without balls, hiding behind a keyboard....I am sure others on this thread are not just keyboard jockeys with nothing more to do than sit around and be judgmental as well.

Many of us do know the players involved. Irwin has been a long standing name in the lakes region, maybe more so than Blizzard.

Nothing new here
 

If posters want to keep repeating nothing new, this thread should be moved to the "Issues:" pages.

As I understand it, there are six voting councilors and just off the top of my head, it will take two of the four councilors who voted yes to accept the Irwin-522k offer to vote yes to a re-consideration. Brenda Baer, and Armand Bolduc support the efforts of the Lakeport Landing business probably because it has been there for 30-years in its effort to purchase their .81 acre land and buildings.

These two, Baer and Bolduc, sounded pretty adamant in their suppost for the Blizzards and Lakeport Landing, so's only time will tell if they can convince two out of the other four councilors to go along with a re-consideration ..... plus, of course....it would most likely mean the City of Laconia would receive a higher price.

Oh ye all six councilors ...... take a good deep look into your hearts and just ask yourself: What is the right thing to do here?

When Ms. Blizzard started pointing fingers in her editorial she opened herself up to public criticism. She obviously feels that she is entitled to preferential pricing on the asset her family has profitably leased for the past 30-years. She fails to note in her editorial that her business has earned many times the $16,666.70 in annual lease payments, taxes, building expense, etc., much of which was tax deductible, it has paid over the past 30-years. Many tax payers and forum members do not feel a substantial discount is warranted at the expense of the hard working taxpayers of Laconia. The city is under financial stress and it would be unfair to offer Blizzard preferential pricing on a valuable city asset regardless of the length of time her business has been in Laconia. The city has gone above and beyond already by extending her lease an additional 2-years to allow for a smooth transition. Hopefully, the matter will be closed once and for all in the near term. I apologize if I have offered anyone, including Ms. Blizzard, but it is best to graciously move on when things do not go one's way, especially when the playing field was level.

The other four wants to build a new high school off Parade Road! That's a waste of money! School enrollment been declining since the '70's. Graduating class is the smallest since the '40's. And they need a bigger school? They already spent millions in the Huot Center and the sport complex at the site and they want to move the school? I have been at odds with Baer for years and this is the first time I ever commended her.

Our tax dollars at work going down the drain...................

Ditto
 

Great remark - couldn't have said it better myself!

......like wow....and holy smokes....that's pretty amazing how this finally ended up Monday night, July 13.....with the councilor's voting 3-3, and the deciding vote cast by the mayor to not re-consider, and to accept the much higher offer from Irwin's.



Most likely, having the mayor be responsible for the deciding vote could have swayed the six councilors to split their votes by 3-3, as opposed to making the decision themselves, and serving up the ball into his court.



Is it all over, or will there be a follow up lawsuit ... and isn't that what happened originally, 30-years ago, back in 1985..... a lawsuit which lead to the creation of the three 10-year leases.



Back 30-years ago, in 1985, Irwin Marine sued the City of Laconia because it felt it had been an unfair sale, and now 30-years later, in 2015, it seems likely that Lakeport Landing will sue the City of Laconia because it feels it is an unfair sale.

It ain't over yet.
 

http://www.laconiadailysun.com/index...over-bid-award

I hope they stick it to the City of Laconia.

So's ...... what to do with the money?

Wouldn't it be nice if the City of Laconia directs all their $528,000 Irwin Marine high offer bid toward the construction of the www.wowtrail.org ...... making several miles ..... Laconia to Meredith .... about 9-miles total .... of the Winnipesaukee waterfront available to the public for the WOW trail, walking and bicycling paved trail ...... $528,000 public money well spent! You could probably go bicycling from April 1 to December 10, give or take a couple weeks, depending on the natural snowfall. That could be a very happening bicycle and walking, public rail-trail ....... like WOW!


Once it finally gets built, people will say 'so how come we didn't do this 30-years ago .....the WOW trail is super-duper.' It would bring a lot of people on bicycles through the Weirs Beach area.

yeah because they should take away private property of others and give it to the public who will neglect it. that ship sailed years ago. I for one if were an owner on that proposed trail would fight it tooth and nail

next useless comment????

How about this useless comment:

Why wasn't the property sold by a competitive, public bidding process, i.e. at public auction, where each prospective purchaser knows what the other bidders have bid, and has the opportunity to increase their own bid?

That would be fair and transparent.

Wouldn't that be nice......a beautiful chain link fence all the way from Lakeport the the Weirs. Can't think of a better use for waterfront property. Bet Southdown owners would be thrilled.

Phase III of the WOW trail will never happen. They can't even get financing for Phase II. The expense of connecting Lakeport to Paugus Park Road alone is cost prohibitive, let alone the warchest of funds South Down and Long Bay have collected to fight the expansion.

Another trail for people to do drugs and leave drug paraphernalia on. I don't even enjoy walking to my car in Laconia never mind that new trail.

That's a shame because one thing MA does have is some pretty nice "Rail Trails" ..... including one in my town that winds between currently two towns (Hudson/Marlboro) with plans for five towns (Acton/Maynard/Stow/Hudson/Marlboro)

http://www.townofhudson.org/public_d...onma_exec/ARRT


http://www.traillink.com/state/ma-trails.aspx
.

WOW Trail is a GREAT idea...

But that being said there is NO reason why there has to be an ugly chain link fence between the trail and the railroad tracks... The state is way off on this. Its not like this is a high speed rail corridor!!!

As far as Southdown Shores goes, they can fight, bitch and complain all they want... They DO NOT OWN the RR tracks or the waterfront! The State of NH does! They might get a court to delay the project, but inevitably it will happen. The state can start by NOT renewing the leases on the docks & waterfront and revoke the existing RR Track crossings... Ultimately the state will prevail. Especially when the Right of way is in the plans originally submitted for Southdown.

Sorry if I offended some of my Southdown friends.. but I absolutely abhor the NIMBY attitude of some people... The lake is for EVERYONE!

Woodsy

I also hope the WOW trail gets completed without a fence. This is public land that should be enjoyed by the public. It is that simple.

No idea why the SDS folks think they can stop it. They need to read the documents they should have received when they purchased. Their docks are connected to shoreline SDS does not own. Biggest reason I did not buy there.

R2B

My understanding is that the right of way does not necessarily extend to the water's edge, but is defined by a certain width. I am not an expert on SD/LB legal position, but we are certainly well funded for a fight.

Practically speaking, if the Wow trail folks can't raise $1M or so to complete Phase II, there is absolutely no way they will be able to raise the $10M+ to complete Phase III. Right now it's a pipe dream.

Apparently the issue is Mr. Blizzard and now his daughter believe that there was a right of first refusal extended to them on the property but there wasn't any paperwork executed or filed with the land court. Verbal agreements, if in fact there was one, don't mean much with respect to real estate. In fact they mean nothing. I think they are wasting time and money but if you get good counsel sometimes you can prevail. It will be interesting to watch it work its way through the courts. If Blizzard is successful reversing the Pending sale, I'd imagine the city will be sued by Irwin for breech of contract. What a mess.

City's track record
 

When it comes to court cases has not been good. I often wonder if they ever seek legal council before they open their mouths? Or financial advise for that matter as in the case citizens are ask to fill a w-9 form so that they can receive refunds? I wonder where they got their city manager?