Bits and Pieces: A Weekly Update from the Strafford Region

The birdhouses for the POP! Summer Recreation Passport program are ready to be installed (SRPC Photo).

Planning

SRPC staff were hard at work this week preparing for the launch of the Promoting Outdoor Play! (POP!) passport program. Kicking off on Jul. 20, following the children's summer series at the Rotary Arts Pavilion, the program encourages people to head outdoors this summer and explore over 350 sites in the Strafford region.

At the event, SRPC staff will be handing out its Summer Recreation Passport, a paper booklet designed for families and children to explore eight recreation sites and get a stamp at each one. To complement this family-friendly activity, the POP! Digital Passport allows anyone to log their visits to any of the 350 sites catalogued in the POP! Online Map Viewer. Throughout the summer, SRPC will be raffling prizes based on digital passport submissions, and the more entries, the more opportunities to win!

Winners will be announced via the POP! Social media pages on Instagra m and Facebook. The POP! Team also encourages people to share the photos of their adventures using the #promotingoutdoorplaynh via email to srpc@strafford.org.

For more information about the project visit the POP! webpage .

Pieces of Interest

JULY 22: SRPC Hosts Water Resiliency and the Region's Future meeting

Transportation

Rachel Dewey, data analyst, and Jackson Rand, GIS planner, attended the hybrid meeting of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Intermodal Transportation (GACIT) on Friday, Jul. 16. The meeting allowed for the NH Department of Transportation to present the DRAFT Ten Year Transportation Improvement Plan to the 5 councilors making up GACIT.

As explained on the NHDOT website, “The purpose of the Ten Year Plan is to develop and implement a plan allowing New Hampshire to fully participate in federally supported transportation improvement projects as well as to outline projects and programs funded with State transportation dollars.”

The meeting also allowed the state and its stakeholders to discuss items important to the development of the Draft 2023-2032 Ten Year Transportation Improvement Plan and discuss the next steps to be determined by GACIT and the Department.

This meeting was a kick-off of the GACIT process which will include public hearings in fall and winter of 2021, and adoption of the plan in June 2022.

Learn more on the NHDOT website.

Pieces of Interest

Biking's Billion-Dollar Value, Right Under Our Wheels

Public Comment Period for "NH Cooperative Public Process

for Transportation Planning Efforts in New Hampshire"

Economic Development

On Friday, July. 16, the Strafford Economic Development District (EDD) board (which is synonymous with the SRPC Commission) held a special meeting to adopt the 2021-2025 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). The CEDS is the guiding document for regional economic development and highlights trends, happenings with businesses and industries, and priority projects and updates submitted by regional communities and stakeholders.

The document was adopted and the final version will be uploaded to the SRPC website next week. The draft presented to the Commission can be viewed online. It is recommended to view the document in two-page spread.

In addition to adopting the CEDS, Commissioners engaged in an interactive activity setup by EDD staffers to prioritize action items laid out in the document. This will help staff understand how to best begin implementing the plan.

For more information on the CEDS or the EDD contact James Burdin, senior regional planner.

Pieces of Interest

DEI: From Talk to Action | Building an Inclusive Culture

ARPA Fiscal Recovery Funds in NH: Virtual Resources & Information Fair

Strafford Regional Planning Commission | 603-994-3500 | srpc@strafford.org| www.strafford.org

July 16, 2021