By JOHN KOZIOL

Staff Writer

LACONIA — A consortium of five Laconia businesses say they will challenge state efforts to limit the size of so-called Bike Week "beer tents."

Attorney John Deachman made the announcement in a prepared statement released late Tuesday afternoon. The statement did not identify the businesses who are challenging the proposed stricter rules and Deachman could not be reached for comment.

Last month Deachman represented the Weirs Beach Lobster Pound and the Broken Spoke Saloon in hearings on the State Liquor Commission’s proposed changes to its extension-of-service licenses.

The businesses, he said, were most concerned about the NHSLC’s suggestion to not grant extension-of-service licenses for areas larger than three times the licensed seating of the establishment seeking the special permit.

The NHSLC has said that there are 78 licensed seats at the Lobster Pound and 145 at the Broken Spoke.

At present, five Laconia businesses — the Naswa Resort on Weirs Boulevard, the Paradise Beach Club on Lakeside Avenue, and the Lobster Pound, Broken Spoke and Weirs Beach Drive-In, all on Endicott Street North — have received permission from the Laconia Motorcycle Technical Review Committee to operate beer tents during Bike Week, which takes place from June 7-15.

Each of the businesses must also obtain approval from the NHSLC for the beer tents.

The NHSLC has said it will consider the applications under its current regulations.

The commission on April 17, did, by a vote of 2-1, send the proposed changes in its operating rules, including how it handles requests for extension-of-service licenses, to the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules.

The committee is expected to consider the changes at its May 19 meeting.

As he had done at the April 10 Liquor Commission public hearing on the changes, Deachman in the prepared statement again called them "unnecessary" and "harmful" to businesses not only in Laconia but throughout the state.

The occupancy restrictions would mean that the commission would extend its jurisdiction "from enforcing liquor laws to crowd control, fire safety and many other local issues that traditionally determine the size and scope" of the beer tents which Deachman called "hospitality tents."

The rules would have a broad economic impact, Deachman said, and could adversely impact "weddings, summer gatherings and tourist events."

The "hospitality tents" are also preferable to having Bike Week patrons loitering on streets and lawns he said, and are well-regulated, safe, and provide "a secure environment where guests enjoy food, entertainment and alcoholic beverages in moderation."