Bergeron makes pitch to allow taller buildings on strip

Would allowing higher density reduce pressure on undeveloped land?

Going up?That's the direction land-use consultant Shawn Bergeron believes the town should consider going with its commercial development.Bergeron, former town building inspector, was at last week's planning board meeting and floated the idea of increasing the maximum building height for commercial structures on the Route 16 strip.Bergeron said he would rather see commercial development expand upward rather than outward to more rural areas of town. He added that views from the strip are obstructed by buildings anyway, and he didn't think adding to the height of the buildings would make a significant difference.Bergeron elaborated in a phone interview on Tuesday."We're not making any more land," Bergeron said. "The more wonderful areas of Mount Washington Valley are those areas outside of the strip and outside of the villages the rural places that a lot of us came here for. We don't have any land area left for commercial development, so what do we do? We either stagnate completely as far as commercial development, or we figure out where to put it. If we don't go up, we have to go out. Why not start using the third-dimensional element of height?"Bergeron stressed that he is proposing increased building heights for the commercial strip only, not the villages."I think Conway Village and North Conway Village are pristine enough that we need to maintain some history and some rural village character," he said. "But on the strip, from say the Burger King intersection to Artist Falls Road, I wouldn't hesitate to go up to 100 feet in building height."The current maximum building height in Conway is 45 feet to the "mean gable elevation" or to the top of a flat roof."I want to maintain views," Bergeron said, "but these views are already gone from the strip."He cited as a specific example the intersection with Spectrum Photo on one side and Rite-Aid on the other."If you're at that intersection in the southbound lane, you look left and you look right and you can't see anything," Bergeron said. "What does it matter whether you're looking at the bottom of a 10-story building or the bottom of a one-story building?"Bergeron recognizes that his idea is likely to be controversial."I don't think there's a middle road," he said. "There are probably people who will say Bergeron is a fruitcake, and people who will say this is a good idea. All I want to do is get the idea out there. Is there any support for this? Is there enough support to pursue it, or is it just such a ludicrous idea that it should be left alone right where it is? Sometimes to be successful you have to throw out an idea that people may at first cringe at."Planning board members cringed a little, but they didn't dismiss the idea entirely.Steve Porter said short buildings are part of the attractiveness of the town. Taller buildings, Porter said, would give North Conway more of a city feel.Porter added that, while views may be obstructed somewhat by existing buildings, "if you look over them you can still see mountains."Bob Drinkhall said, "My first thought is negative toward the idea, but I would be willing to look at it.""It doesn't appeal to you, Bob?" Bergeron asked."No, it doesn't," Drinkhall responded.Ted Sares said he needed to give the idea more thought, and he was interested to see the public's reaction.