[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Laconia
at time of adoption of Code; see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
The names of particular streets, squares and parks, as established
by the following ordinances, are hereby affirmed and shall remain
in force and effect until further action of the City Council:
[Added 5-22-2023 by Ord. No. 2023-205-2]
A. The Laconia City Council shall be the sole designating authority
for naming of all City-owned property. The decision whether or not
to name a specific City-owned building, park, trail, street, parking
lot, or other facility or property shall be by a majority vote of
the City Council following a duly noticed public hearing.
(1) Properties that are in the Historic District should receive a nonbinding
opinion of the Historic District Commission prior to City Council
vote.
(2) Buildings under control by the SAU should receive a nonbinding opinion
of the Laconia School Board prior to City Council vote.
(3) Properties under control of the Parks and Recreation Department should
receive an opinion of the Laconia Parks and Recreation Commission
prior to City Council vote.
B. Procedure.
(1) Requests to name City-owned property should be made, in writing,
by the Mayor, City Council, City Manager, School Superintendent, any
Board and Commission, committee or citizen.
(2) Upon receipt of the request, the Land and Buildings Subcommittee,
at their next meeting, but in no case more than 60 days, will consider
the request. The Land and Buildings Subcommittee will vote whether
to recommend the request to the full City Council.
(3) If the full City Council votes to proceed with the consideration,
a public hearing will be scheduled. Following the public hearing,
the full City Council will vote to accept or deny the naming request.
Approval will be a simple majority of the voting Councilors.
C. Criteria.
(1) Nothing in this criteria list shall preclude the City Council from
accepting or denying a name request on a case-by-case basis.
(2) The following criteria for naming City-owned property shall be considered
by the City Council in approving a request to name City-owned property,
other than streets. Persons under consideration should have made historic
significance or significant contributions to the City.
(a)
Historic significance:
[1]
Associated with an event or series of related events in the
City's history.
[2]
Associated with one or more individuals who have played a significant
role in the City's historic development or government.
[3]
Reflective of a distinctive artistic, scientific or literary
achievement.
(b)
Significant contributions:
[1]
An individual or organization that has made a significant direct
contribution of property or of money for the construction and/or development
of a City facility.
[2]
An individual's significant public service, whether as
a private citizen or public servant; however, generally City-owned
property will not be named after a deceased person until at least
one year after the date of death, except where, in the sole discretion
of the City Council, the individual's contribution merits immediate
recognition.
D. Already-named City-owned property may be renamed by the City Council
in extraordinary circumstances, subject to the above requirements
of City Ordinance 2023-205-2. As an alternative to renaming a specific
City-owned property, the City Council may, in its sole discretion,
authorize commemorative plaques, signs, bricks, sidewalk markings
or other objects to memorialize a location, event, person or organization
of significance to the City.