The Cocheco Falls. ( SRPC Photo)
Planning

At its Apr. 3 meeting, rescheduled from Mar. 20, the Executive Committee held its first online Zoom meeting. The meeting was held in this online format due to the State of Emergency declared by the Governor as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and in accordance with the Governor’s Emergency Order #12 pursuant to Executive Order 2020-04. It was very productive and allowed staff and E.C. members to adapt its normal meeting process to ensure our governing body was able to meet and discuss important business and our response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The meeting also allowed the Executive Committee to adopt the SRPC FY 2020-2020 Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan provides a high-level strategic roadmap for the next five years, which complements the implementation of our Regional Plan and evolving planning issues to shape SRPC’s role within the region over the next few years. 

The process to write the Strategic Plan included surveying staff, commissioners and stakeholders with an interest toward assessing current organizational values, services and operations. A retreat was held, and served as the basis to articulate our overarching strategic direction for the next few years, along with objectives, key outcomes, and several critical inputs for success. Conversations continued through a series of staff and Executive Committee meetings to refine ideas and concepts generated at the Retreat. To garner broader commissioner input, a workshop was held directly after the regularly scheduled Policy Committee meeting to further develop the draft recommendations and measures of success. 

To learn more about the Strategic Plan, and to view the document visit  our website

Pieces of Interest


Transportation
Colin Lentz, senior transportation planner, and Stefanie Casella, regional planner, have continued to coordinate with partners across the Seacoast to plan for the annual Bike Walk to Work month in May. While the scheduled activities are obviously up in the air right now, their latest meeting, held Apr. 8, allowed partners to discuss possible changes in events and promotions. One idea discussed at the meeting included encouraging people to take a walk or ride their bike before work or on a break, in place of riding or walking to work if the Stay at Home order is still in place. Other possibilities include adapting the scheduled bike clinics to be held via zoom or another video platform.  

In news related to encouraging outdoor activity, rail trails are popular spots for biking and walking and they’re currently being studied so that researchers can understand their economic impacts in the State of New Hampshire There are over 500 miles of rail trails in the state, and interested users are encouraged to share their input on the most recent rail trail they visited in an  online survey  developed by UNH Cooperative Extension and the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. 

For municipalities looking to improve, build, or maintain their rail trails, or any kind of trails, the NH Recreational Trails Program (RTP) is now accepting applications for 2021 fiscal year funding. The RTP is a competitive grant program that offers funding for quality public trail projects throughout New Hampshire. 

Eligible projects include: 

  • maintenance and restoration of existing trails 
  • development and rehabilitation of trailside and trailhead facilities and trail linkages. 
  • purchase and lease of trail construction and maintenance equipment 
  • construction of new trails 
  • educational projects for trail safety and/or environmental education 

Applicants may be non-profit organizations, private groups or government entities, and applications are due on Jun. 19 at 4 p.m.  

Learn on the  RTP web page

Pieces of Interest

Economic Development
Over the last few weeks, SRPC has been leading a twice-weekly meeting with economic development (ED) leaders around our region. Building from our Economic Development monthly brownbag lunch series, this is a chance for those working closely with businesses and partners in our municipalities to get together, share resources, challenges, and successes. With the current COVID-19 crisis, it is particularly important that we all be in contact to make sure that efforts or resources are not duplicated or redundant and to make sure that we all have access to the same information.   

Meetings over the past three weeks have been immensely helpful, allowing SRPC to understand where our energies can best be put to action as an Economic Development District (EDD). This allows us to be efficient and helpful to our communities via collaboration with community leaders in building capacity and addressing pressing issues. 

The group has discussed and is beginning to implement building a common platform where all information will be shared to avoid duplication. Members engaged in this group also talked about how businesses are accessing the  Paycheck Protection Program , an outcome of the CARES Act designed to keep employees on the payroll, as well as many other resources available.   

To learn more about available resources, Strafford EDD staff attended a webinar with the Community Finance Development Authority on Apr. 9 to learn about a relief program for non-profits .  The applications for this program will be available on Monday, Apr. 13, and will be available on a rolling basis until funds are expended. If you or your community need help with finding or applying to any funds, please reach out to Strafford EDD staff. You may contact Nancy O' Connor, equity and engagement planner, at  noconnor@strafford.org
 
Pieces of Interest


Strafford Regional Planning Commission | 603-994-3500 | srpc@strafford.org | www.strafford.org
April 10, 2020