Bits and Pieces: A Weekly Update from the Strafford Region

Equity and engagement planner Nancy O'Connor poses while setting a traffic count in Somersworth. (SRPC photo)

Planning

On Friday, Aug. 27 regional planner Autumn Scott led a focus interview with Dover Housing Authority Executive Director Ryan Crosby, and other members of DHA staff for the Building Coastal Resilience by Building Equity project with the City of Dover.

The goal of this project is to engage Dover’s historically underserved communities (HUCs) in climate change conversations. HUCs are often disproportionately vulnerable to climate change impacts such as sea level rise, coastal flooding, freshwater availability, and urban heat island effects. The project, funded through a Coastal Resilience Municipal Planning Grant, aims to identify these vulnerable members of the community in order to include their history, perspectives, and voices, as well as to diversify input the City currently receives related to climate impacts.

The conversation allowed SRPC to get feedback from Dover Housing Authority on:

climate and energy related challenges for its tenants
its understanding of what the City does in terms of climate adaptation planning
priorities it sees as important for the City to focus on
how to best engage with DHA tenants

This is one of several conversations SRPC has held with community entities and organizations in Dover. To learn more about this project or to inquire about participation, contact Autumn Scott.

Pieces of Interest

2020 Census Demographic Data Map Viewer

Building Your Virtual Facilitation Skills

Transportation

As we near the end of the summer, Strafford MPO staff are finishing the annual traffic count season, with 29 counts left to set and process. This summer planning technician Stephen Geis led the traffic count program, with assistance from data collection intern Mark Davie.

Following Mark's last day, Aug. 20, Stephen is now partnering with other Strafford MPO staff to complete the final counts of the summer. This week, equity and engagement planner Nancy O' Connor assisted with seven counts set in Lee, Dover, Rollinsford, and Somersworth.

To view the locations, and see the status of Strafford MPO's traffic count program (which is updated every Monday) visit the SRPC Traffic Counts 2021 dashboard. The online map viewer shows active counts that are in the field in blue, completed counts in green, and remaining counts in red.

To supplement this, GIS Planner Jackson Rand recently created and launched a historic traffic counts map , which is now live on SRPC’s ArcOnline page.

Pieces of Interest

NH coastal communities may benefit from infusion of federal funds

Economic Development

SRPC is beginning the process of assisting each of its regional municipalities with the digitization of records. The goal behind this effort is to improve organizational resilience and effectiveness of municipal staff if required to work remotely and to increase citizen access online.

The program is being offered at no cost to the municipalities through SRPC's CARES Act funding, which supports and technical assistance to the region’s municipalities.

For implementation of this effort, a combination of SRPC staff and municipal personnel will work together to scan identified documents. To support this effort SRPC is currently procuring equipment (two scanners - large format for plans and a smaller one for documents) and compiling a FAQ about the program to provide all the details, such as the scope, timeline, size of scannable documents, etc.

Please use this sign-up link if you are interested and would like to receive more information once it is available.

Pieces of Interest

Simply Somersworth: Foundational Main Street buildings undergo changes

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

August 27, 2021