This meeting was timely in that Strafford Regional Planning Commission staffers, and their counterparts at Rockingham Planning Commission, recently finished base mapping showing the regulated urbanized areas, watershed boundaries, and impaired water bodies in their regions. The maps will be used by municipalities at the July Coalition meeting to aid in the preparation of the notice of intent that outlines municipal plans for permit compliance. The June meeting also featured a presentation by state Department of Environmental Services staff members highlighting existing data collection across the state that will be helpful to municipalities as they begin the illicit discharge detection and elimination tasks under the permit.
More information about the Seacoast Stormwater Coalition can be found online at:
Colin Lentz, regional transportation planner, attended a meeting on June 20 at NHDOT about planning for intercity bus service in rural areas across New Hampshire. Intercity bus service provides long-distance connections to employment, education, and recreation opportunities, as well as links to neighboring states and urbanized areas. Intercity bus planning is just one part of NHDOT’s ongoing Statewide Transit Assessment, which will also include planning for demand-response and fixed route transit services. For more information about regional and statewide transit planning, contact Colin at clentz@strafford.org or 603‑994‑3500.
And if you want to find out more about available public transit services in the region, check out some of these helpful resources:
The Strafford Economic Development District (Strafford EDD) held its quarterly meeting on June 28 during the SRPC Annual Luncheon.
The luncheon featured a panel discussion of trails and their relation to economic development and quality of life.
The meeting gave the EDD board of directors an opportunity to review the 2017 annual update of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), which had been available for public comment from May 29 through June 27. Commissioners unanimously approved the document, which is in its final stages of formatting before it is sent to the federal Economic Development Administration for review. The final formatted plan will be uploaded soon at http://strafford.org/econdev/ceds_overview.php.
