Conway car wash proposal raises concerns

Conway or North Conway does not need another car wash. The existing one only seems to be at capacity a few weekends in the winter. The owner told me he recently installed a new high capacity touch free wash and he’s installing another one this spring.

To Steve Steiner’s comment I’m not sure if his wife has ever been to Hannaford’s, but when I go there I can hear the car wash and I certainly wouldn’t want that noise in my back yard on a hot summer night with my windows open.

The Coleman’s have made a lot of money off the backs of Valley residents. In the process they have monopolized the concrete business for this entire region. It would be nice to see them do something with that lot which would be an extension of Davis Park, even if it was just parking for local residents and visitors with the only access being from East Side Rd. Install a Pay to Park kiosk to charge visitors enough to maintain the lot and a manager to impose fines on a part time basis. Maybe Let a local tow company enforce parking. People who don’t pay will learn just like they do in MA, NY, CT, RI and NJ.

Please don’t build another car wash, hotel, or restaurant until the work force is strengthened in the valley.

We need affordable housing, not necessarily low income housing and not luxury apartments.

Apartment buildings where you can rent a small 1 bedroom for $500-600 per month or a 2 bedroom for $700-800. Give the apartment owner a huge break on property taxes so long as all working residents are employed within 15 miles of the apartment building.

There should be a moratorium on hotels right now, put restaurants in some of the empty retail space when there are more workers available and don’t build anymore car washes or gas stations until there is a need.

Let’s preserve what visitors come here for, that shouldn’t be another 4 story brand name hotel, or even a 2 story bank.

Please encourage “affordable housing”, not “work force housing” where people lose their State subsidy if they work more than 30 hours a week.

Build a 300 unit apartment complex where it can be connected to the over-built N Conway water and sewer system.

Let’s give the kids of this valley a reason to stay, not move away because they can’t afford to live here.

All the things that made the Conways a travel destination are rapidly disappearing, giving way to transient weekenders looking for tax-free consumerism and a superficial travel industry "outdoor" experience.

Meanwhile, the hospitality services and retail labor force continues to shrink as affordable housing disappears giving way to STR's.

Not a very good long-term plan Planning Board.

The Conway car wash proposal raises concerns but allowing the White Mountain Highway through North Conway to morph into the "Las Vegas Strip of New Hampshire" (minus the casinos) isn't a problem? How absurd.