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Photo from the 2016 Annual Building Permit Inventory Report Source: SRPC
Planning

Over the past 14 months, Strafford Regional Planning Commission has been working with the Town of Durham on the Future Land Use chapter of its master plan. James Burdin, regional economic development planner, took over as project manager for this contract after senior planner Liz Durfee left SRPC in March 2017. GIS planner Rachael Mack also worked on the project, meeting with the Town and using the input she received to create maps for the chapter. The final product, a completed future land use chapter, was conditionally approved by the Planning Board on Thursday, Jan. 24. 
 
This is the last chapter in a set of 11 that SRPC prepared for the Town, all of which were endorsed and approved by the Planning Board.
 
The Future Land Use chapter will be uploaded after final edits are made and will be available by mid-February for viewing at:


Pieces of Interest
  
 
Transportation

On Jan. 30 and 31, the Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission and Strafford Regional Planning Commission will host a two-day training exercise for the development of an all-hazard emergency transportation recovery plan for the Southwestern Region of Maine and Strafford and Rockingham counties in New Hampshire.
 
The training will give participants the tools, knowledge, skills, and resources to develop an emergency transportation recovery plan that includes public transit capacity, travel demand management strategies, intelligent transportation system technologies, and social media to facilitate recovery.
 
Participants will include representatives of transit providers, metropolitan planning organizations, and institutions responsible for creating, reviewing, funding, and implementing or executing emergency operations and transportation recovery plans. Among them will be regional planners, municipal staff members, emergency first responders, and state personnel directly responsible for emergency management.
 
Key Topics to be addressed include the following:
-           Defining all hazards transportation recovery planning.
-           Lessons learned from past events.
-           Roles and responsibilities in transportation recovery planning and
implementation.
-           Tools and methods for prioritizing emergency recovery investments. 


Pieces of Interest

 
Economic Development

Stefanie Casella, data collection and analysis assistant, is hard at work collecting data for the 2017 Annual Building Permit Inventory Report. This annual inventory provides a look at new development and growth in the Strafford region. Under a contract with NHDOT, SRPC collects and analyzes building permit information from each municipality. This data is also used to update the Strafford Metropolitan Planning Organization's Transportation and Land Use Model and for municipal development planning purposes.
 
Towns that have not submitted data are reminded that doing so by February 28 will ensure Stefanie has the information she needs to draft the report. The 2017 iteration will report on new construction from January 1 to December 31, 2017. It will contain a summary analysis of building activity in the region, a table of permit totals by municipality, a chart illustrating permit allocation, line graphs showing changes in residential and commercial construction since 2008, and a map of new building locations.

The Building Report for 2016 can be found at:

Contact Stefanie Casella at  scasella@strafford.org  with any questions or to submit data.


Pieces of Interest