New England Municipal Sustainability Network spring meeting. (S PRC Photo)
Planning

Kyle Pimental participated in a panel discussion at the New England Municipal Sustainability Network (NEMS) spring meeting on Friday, May 31. Kyle joined Steve Bird (City of Dover Planning Department), Jayne Knott (JFK Environmental Services LLC) and Ellie Baker (Horsley Witten Group) to present on planning for community resilience. The panel was moderated by Cameron Wake, research professor at the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, and the Dept. of Earth Sciences at the University of New Hampshire.

Panelist focused their conversations on examples of municipalities working to build more resilient communities. Kyle talked about the City of Dover's climate adaptation master plan chapter and the ongoing Lee floodplain mapping project, Steve and Ellie provided information on the Dover waterfront development and the climate considerations that are part of that project, and Jayne addressed groundwater modeling around the coast.
The presentation was followed by a walking tour of the proposed waterfront development site and the new solar panels on the roof of the NH Children's Museum.

Learn more about NEMS on their website . 

Pieces of Interest


Transportation

On Thursday, May 30, Stefanie Casella attended a road surface management systems (RSMS) training coordinated by staff from the University of New Hampshire Technology Transfer Center. This workshop-style training served as a refresher for protocols and best practices when conducting RSMS assessments. The workshop also introduced attendees to software updates that will assist in data collection processes.

Following the training, both Stefanie and Colin Lentz met with Wakefield Town Administrator Kelley Collins and some of the Town's highway staff to discuss RSMS data collection and road treatment forecasting. To assist with this, and other data collection efforts, Strafford MPO is hiring a temporary data collection intern .

For more information on Strafford MPO's data collection processes, or about the job posting, contact Stefanie at 603-994-3500. 

Pieces of Interest

Economic Development

On Wednesday, May 29, and Thursday, May 30, Colin Lentz attended a workshop focused on freight planning for small and medium metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). The training was hosted by Federal Highway Administration and was attended by planners from NHDOT, Nashua RPC, Rockingham Planning Commission, Southern NH Planning Commission, and Central NH RPC.
 
Discussion was centered on general freight planning topics (such as supply chains), and attendees reviewed data sources and tools for analysis in addition to discussing how to incorporate freight considerations into the process that MPOs use to develop regional project development.
 
Freight is a critical component of economic development and MPOs work with municipalities and NHDOT to ensure the regional Metropolitan Transportation Plan contains network improvements that support freight development. This could comprise a range of issues: from whether freight can operate efficiently and safely with other modes in downtowns; to assessing impacts from increased truck trips around a large distribution center; to collaborating with neighboring RPCs and freight providers to improve linkages between freight modes (such as local truck to regional port or rail).
 
Strafford MPO staffers will use the insight gained from the workshop as they update the computer model which analyzes regional vehicle travel. Combining this tool with regional freight data will provide a detailed picture of freight in the Strafford region that will be incorporated into the Metropolitan Transportation Plan and be linked to specific goals and objectives for freight improvements. 
 
For more information contact Colin Lentz at 603-994-3500.

Pieces of Interest

Strafford Regional Planning Commission | 603-994-3500 | srpc@strafford.org | www.strafford.org
May 31, 2019