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Happy October!
Autumn is officially here and the leaf peepers are arriving by the thousands! As they pass through the Strafford region on their way to the White Mountains, they have lots of activities to stop and enjoy. The
Apple Harvest Festival is this weekend in Dover, lots of cider drinking and apple picking is going on at orchards across the region, and the views of the mountains and leaves north of the SRPC planning area are worth a Sunday drive!
Here at SRPC, staffers have been busy attending input sessions for the statewide economic development plan, working with the City of Dover on outreach for the Dover Rising Water youth art project, and finishing up the Annual Building Permit report.
In this issue you'll read about Senior Transportation Planner Colin Lentz's time at the AMPO conference, COAST's public forums as they plan for the future, available grant funding, SRPC's public health initiatives, PREP's board empowerment series, planning events of interest, and community happenings.
Until next month,
Shayna Sylvia
Communications and
Outreach Planner
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Senior Transportation Planner's AMPO Experience
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During the week of Sept. 24, senior transportation planner Colin Lentz attended the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organization's annual conference in San Antonio, Texas. This week-long gathering of transportation planners and stakeholders from across the U.S. provides opportunities to network, learn about innovative planning processes in other states, and share ideas from their organizations or municipalities. Colin was able to do all three as he attended conference sessions, presented, and met other transportation planning professionals during networking events and guided walking and biking tours.
Colin learned a lot during his week in San Antonio and is excited to implement new ideas from the sessions he attended, including the following:
- A facilitated breakout session for small and medium metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to discuss common issues.
- "Land Use/Transportation Investments: Right-sizing Transportation Investments."
- "Public Involvement (Part I)."
- "Coordination and Collaboration."
- Updates from Washington and the AMPO board of directors.
- "Reflections from the Past and Looking Forward" with the AMPO executive director and panelists from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and T. Y. Lin International.
- "Return on Active Transportation and Practical Approaches to Transit Investment and Prioritization."
- "Implementation of Performance Metrics to Guide Better Decision Making."
- "Let's Talk Resilience: Integrating Resilience into the Planning Process."
Colin also presented during the conference and was on the panel "From Response to Recovery: How MPOs are Taking Steps to Prepare Their Regions to Recover from Disaster. " During this session, he talked about the pilot project that Strafford MPO and Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission completed with the Federal Transit Administration and Oregon's Portland State University.
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Opportunity to Share Your Input: Moving COAST Into the Future
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Seacoast transportation provider and SRPC partner Cooperative Alliance for Seacoast Transportation (COAST) recently announced plans to undertake a comprehensive operations analysis between September 2018 and July 2020. COAST will evaluate all of its services and reshape them based on community priorities, feedback, demand, and available resources.
COAST is kicking off the process with a series of public forums throughout the Strafford and Rockingham planning regions. This is an exciting opportunity to shape the regional transit system for the future. The following forums will take place in the Strafford region:
Farmington Town Hall Auditorium (Upstairs)
531 Main St., Farmington, NH 03835
Friday, Oct. 19
6:30 - 8 p.m.
Rochester Community Center (Community Room)
150 Wakefield St, Rochester, NH 03867
Monday, Oct. 22
6:30 - 8 p.m.
Somersworth High School (Cafeteria)
11 Memorial Drive, Somersworth, NH 03878
Tuesday, Oct. 23
6:30 - 8 p.m.
Community Action Partnership of Strafford County (Meeting Room)
577 Central Ave., Dover, NH 03820
Monday, Oct. 29
9 - 10:30 a.m.
Dover City Hall (Auditorium)
288 Central Ave., Dover, NH 03820
Monday, Oct. 29
6:30 - 8 p.m.
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Grant Corner
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced the availability of $7.5 million in funding through its Farm to School program, which assists eligible entities in implementing school programs to improve access to local foods. This is a highly competitive grant program; Only 25 percent of projects were funded in FY 2018. The grant award requires a 25 percent cash or in-kind match.
In the region, the Somersworth School District was awarded funding in FY 2018 to "develop a district-wide compost and food waste reduction program, provide professional development for teachers to utilize school gardens as outdoor classrooms, increase farm to school learning opportunities for students in the after-school and summer programs, and develop a local foods procurement plan with the school food service department. "
Funding is available to schools, school districts, agricultural producers, Indian tribal organizations, nonprofit organizations, and state and local agencies. Over 25 schools in nine communities in the region already participate in the New Hampshire Farm to School (NHFTS) program, which could be beneficial to those considering whether to apply. As the program's website explains, "The NHFTS Program serves as a facilitator engaging farmers, distributors, food service directors, teachers, health educators and administrators in adopting farm to school practices. "
Applications are due Dec. 4.
Please feel free to contact SRPC for assistance with grant applications.
To learn more,
view the grant requirements
.
FY 2018 Flood Mitigation Assistance
The Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant Program (FMA) of the Federal Emergency Management Assistance (FEMA) is now accepting grant applications from state, local, and tribal governments for projects to reduce or eliminate the risk of repeated flood damage to structures insured "under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). "
The $160 million in available program funding will support
two types of community flood mitigation activities: advance assistance for flood mitigation design and development of community flood mitigation projects and mitigation projects that address community flood risk for the purpose of reducing NFIP flood claim payments.
Grant applications are due Jan. 31, 2019.
Please feel free to contact SRPC for assistance with grant applications.
To learn more,
view the grant requirements
.
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SRPC and Public Health Planning
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SRPC staffers are actively expanding their role in the public health sector of regional planning with many exciting plans for Fiscal Year 2019. Last week, Nancy O'Connor, program content coordinator, attended the Strafford Public Health Network fall meeting as SRPC's representative on the Strafford Public Health Advisory Council (PHAC).
The biannual meeting brought together many in the Strafford region working in mental health, addiction, public health, and our medical networks.
The meeting gave attendees the opportunity to talk with each other, share best practices and challenges, hear about new programs and innovations, and collaborate on ideas. The featured presentation at the meeting covered a new SOS Recovery Community Organization program, a learning session on the changes coming to Medicare, a session on access, mobility, and inclusion for people with disabilities, and a panel discussion on how mental health is being addressed in Strafford County.
In the meantime, SRPC is waiting to hear whether it will be funded by the HNH Foundation for a project related to recreation access for children.
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PREP and Partners Hold Board Empowerment Series
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Our partners at the Piscataqua Estuaries Partnership Program (PREP) are working with the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (GBNERR), The New Hampshire Association of Conservation Commissions, and the Natural Resource Outreach Coalition to offer technical assistance related to board empowerment across the Piscataqua Region watershed.
The coastal viewer training will build off the first "Coastal Viewer 101 for Land Conservation" workshop and will enable "Coastal Viewer 201" participants to practice using the NH Coastal Viewer online mapping tool to access data about New Hampshire's coastal resources, hazards, and resilient landscapes. This session will take place in room G18 of the University of New Hampshire's Pettee Hall.
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Planning Events of Interest
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2018 Complete Streets Conference
The New Hampshire Complete Streets Conference will take place at the NH Department of Environmental Services on Friday, Oct. 19, from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. This free event includes presentations on transforming communities through greenways and complete streets, age-friendly communities, and case studies and lessons learned on complete streets projects. See the full list of presentations
online
. Focus areas include bike sharing, safety educations, technology, age-friendliness, and more.
Register online.
NH Association of Conservation Commissions 48th Annual Meeting
The NH Association of Conservation Commissions (NHACC) will hold its 48th Annual Meeting and Conference on Saturday, Nov. 2, at Pembroke Academy. "NHACC calls the gathering "the only state-wide conference dedicated to municipal conservation commission members. " The event will include workshops on the fundamentals of conservation commissions as well as conservation fund best practices. Other sessions will cover how to use a natural resources inventory, grant writing tips, and a host of
other topics.
Learn more and register on the
conference website.
2018 Local Energy Solutions (LES) Conference
New Hampshire's premiere conference for clean energy is celebrating its tenth year. The annual Local Energy Solutions Conference will be held on Nov. 16 at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord. The event brings together energy stakeholders to discuss the latest information and developments from leading experts, innovative ideas, and sustainable energy best practices. The conference also provides networking opportunities.
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Community Happenings
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Bedrock Gardens Fairy and Hobbit House Festival! Friday, Oct. 5, and Saturday, Oct. 6, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Explore gorgeous Bedrock Gardens in Lee, one of the SRPC staff's favorite places in the region!! There will be designer fairy and hobbit houses, trails to explore, story-telling, food, face painting, and supplies to build your very own fairy house! The gardens are open, and the festival i's a wonderful opportunity to explore this special little corner of our beautiful region. This promises to be a fun event for all on lovely fall days!
15th Annual Somersworth Pumpkin Festival, Sunday, Oct. 14, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Somersworth residents and visitors get together to celebrate all things pumpkin right in historic downtown! Pumpkin carving and painting, pumpkin bowling, hay rides, live entertainment, and lots of good food! There is so much fun stuff to do in the region this time of year! We love fall!
Rochester Zombie Walk, Friday, Oct. 26, 6 p.m.
Come
parade
with the dead and undead in Rochester's downtown! Teens and adults are invited to meet at 6 p.m. in their most gruesome zombie garb and follow students from local dance schools in a parade-complete with dance numbers-from the Rochester Common to the Union Street parking lot. The Zombie Walk promises to be creepy, entertaining, and a lot of fun! It will also be a great opportunity to get a new view of Rochester's downtown. Rochester was recently named a Granite State' "City on the Rise " by New Hampshire Magazine. This event is one of many organized by a grassroots citizens movement that is making the Lilac City more liveable, safe, and vibrant!
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Sincerely,
SRPC Staff
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