Principal Regional Planner Kyle Pimental's work from home buddy, Buffett. (
SPRC Photo)
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Planning
On Wednesday, Mar. 18 principal regional planner Kyle Pimental participated in a seminar presented by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the University of New Hampshire (UNH) titled "New England Coastal Resilience Workshop." The workshop was originally scheduled to take place at UNH, but in order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 the workshop was held virtually through the use of videoconferencing. While speakers primarily focused on resilience in relation to its importance for coastal communities, workshop emcee, Dr. Cameron Wake, addressed how resiliency played an important role in the day's conference. He commended conference organizers and the technical support team for coordinating with speakers and delivering a high-quality viewing experience on such short notice. Dr. Wake shared that it was a great example of our ability to adapt to an extraordinary circumstance.
The workshop was an informative and engaging session aimed at leaders and stakeholders in regional, state, tribal and local emergency management agencies, municipalities, and coastal organizations. Sessions included important coastal resilience data and statistics, the state of the national flood insurance program and hazard mitigation, and financing and funding for coastal resilience among other topics. Former sword fishing captain and best-selling author, Linda Greenlaw, provided the keynote and gave a thoughtful talk on her life at sea and shared her opinion on how a changing climate will impact the fishing industry. Two noteworthy resources Kyle was interested in exploring more were the
Rhode Island Resources Management Council's Mapping Toolbox
and the
Cape Code Coastal Planner
, which are both GIS-based planning tools.
For more information on Strafford Regional Planning Commission's coastal resilience projects contact
Kyle Pimental
.
Pieces of Interest
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CommuteSMART Seacoast, a program that encourages commuters to carpool, ride the bus, bike/walk to work, or telecommute, was founded in 2014. Also, a Transportation Management Association (TMA) CommuteSMART Seacoast is sponsored by COAST (Cooperative Alliance for Seacoast Transportation) and funded by the Federal Dept. of Transportation and the NH Turnpike Authority as a traffic mitigation program for the Newington-Dover Little Bay Bridge project.
While this initiative has been supported by those sources for the past six years, the funding will be expended by June 30, 2020. Considering the great roots and success of the program, current partners have been meeting to discuss how this effort could be sustained. Staff from Strafford Regional Planning Commission, Rockingham Planning Commission, and Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission met most recently on Monday, Mar. 16, virtually, to strategize on how to maintain the seacoast program and how it ties into the larger statewide effort with CommuteSmart NH.
Further discussions have been scheduled in the months leading up to June. In the meantime CommuteSmart Seacoast has been preparing for its final business to business commuter challenge to be run by TMA manager Anne Rugg, who will be retiring in July. Those on the seacoast interested in participating can learn more
online
.
CommuteSmart NH is also preparing for its commuter challenge as well. Learn more on its
website
.
Pieces of Interest
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At the beginning of the week senior regional planner James Burdin began brainstorming ways in which Strafford Economic Development District (EDD) could support businesses impacted by COVID-19.
Reaching out to contacts at the Small Business Administration, to municipal economic development staff, and other stakeholders, James suggested creating a “digital downtown” platform. This would allow SRPC to link to our businesses’ websites, social media profiles, online stores, etc. in order to advertise what services may still be available (e.g. is your restaurant still open for takeout only?) or encourage some online activity to keep them going (hooray gift cards!).
As great minds think alike, business owner and Somersworth resident Emmett Soldati, initiated a similar effort,
http://mightysmall.io/
, that would help support small businesses in the same way James was envisioning. The website also has a link to a
"
Resource and Adaptation Guide
"
which may be helpful for small businesses.
Other sites have also been promoted during this time, like
https://www.seacoastgiftcards.com/
, which was created by Deaglan McEachern, a City Councilor for Portsmouth, as an easy place to find links the purchase gift cards to support your favorite local businesses.
Additional support to businesses may be available following Governor Sununu's declaration of disaster. The Small Business Administration (SBA) through the Coronavirus Disaster Relief Lending program, will be providing loan for up to $2 million. These funds can be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact.
The interest rate is 3.75% for small businesses without credit available elsewhere; businesses with credit available elsewhere are not eligible. The interest rate for non-profits is 2.75%. SBA offers loans with long-term repayments in order to keep payments affordable, up to a maximum of 30 years.
Terms are determined on a case-by-case basis, based upon each borrower’s ability to repay. While an application won't be considered until NH SBA is able to get the declaration processed you can get a head-start by following these steps:
2. Find the section specific to the Coronavirus Disaster Relief Lending program
3. Create an account and upload your information so that once the formal declaration is processed by SBA, you will one of the first applications to be considered.
Pieces of Interest
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