Streets trees in downtown Dover, NH. ( SRPC Photo)
Planning

On Monday, Jun. 15, SRPC in partnership with EF | Design & Planning, LLC, facilitated a virtual meeting with the City of Dover to kick off the Dover Urban Tree Plan & Stormwater Management Coastal Resilience Project. Funding support for this project came from the 2019 NH Coastal Resilience Municipal Planning Grant, which also funded a second SRPC proposal submitted with the Town of Durham. 

The project will include a comprehensive inventory of existing urban street trees within the Central Business District (CBD). This data will then be used to create an accurate urban tree canopy map, so that gaps can be identified. This info will serve as the foundation for the long-term urban street plan, which will guide increased resiliency of the downtown core via preservation and enhancement of the urban landscape. It will also address invasive species.  

The plan will address public space and rights-of way, including medians, planting strips, and sidewalks. It will have a strong focus on tree lifecycles, aesthetics, heat reduction benefits, groundwater uptake, nitrogen removal, and carbon sequestration. 
The meeting to discuss these elements allowed for a review of the tree inventory workplan and timeline, feedback on tree inventory attributes, and discussion on assessment methodology. The City was also able to begin outlining objectives and goals for the plan and identifying intended users and audiences. 

For more information contact  Kyle Pimental . 

Pieces of Interest



Transportation
Senior Transportation Planner Colin Lentz has been video conferencing with municipal staff to develop transportation projects that will be incorporated into the updated Metropolitan Transportation Plan. 

Several of these projects will be candidates for the Statewide Ten Year Transportation Improvement Plan, and while projects won’t be submitted to NHDOT until December, beginning the process now ensures adequate timing to compile relevant details.  Having detailed information on a project allows for well-developed scopes and cost estimates, and makes it easier when the project is being assessed for items like potential environmental impacts.  

The high level of detail included with the project also makes it easier when Strafford MPO committee members are comparing and prioritizing regional projects for funding. As the criteria for assessing projects will be different from prior project solicitation rounds, having complete project information is more important than ever. These criteria are being updated by the RPCs and NHDOT and will be used by all RPCs for consistent project scoring. NHDOT will also conduct an engineering review of a final list of projects submitted by SRPC in December. 


Pieces of Interest

Economic Development
During the week of June 19, Strafford Economic Development District (EDD) staff updated their Economic Development Agency (EDA) partnership grant information for funding in FY 2021. This is the funding source for SRPC’s role as an EDD, a designation granted in 2015.  

In recent month’s this funding source has been supporting important work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of note are weekly telephone calls between municipal economic development staff, chambers of commerce, representatives from the state Department of Business and Economic Affairs (DBEA) and the NH Small Business Administration (SBA), in addition to other economic development stakeholders. It has also supported a joint online directory resource,  Mighty Small , created by SRPC and local business owner Emmett Soldati.

Emmett, owner of Teatotaller Tea House in Somersworth, is also a panelist on the  SRPC webinar taking place next Thursday, June 25 , which focuses on ‘Innovative Local Economy Adaptations in Response to COVID-19.' 
Emmett will be joined by Jenn Marsh from the Rochester Office of Economic Development and Shawn Menard from Seacoast Eat Local.  

To register for the webinar visit  https://bit.ly/2XUt0yc .  

  Pieces of Interest


Strafford Regional Planning Commission | 603-994-3500 | srpc@strafford.org | www.strafford.org
June 19, 2020