Bits and Pieces: A Weekly Update from the Strafford Region

Stephen Meno from UNH Cooperative Extension presents during the "Starting Up Your Strategic Plan: Tools for Conducting the Process."

Planning

On Wednesday, Jan. 26 Strafford Regional Planning Commission was notified of its successful NHDES Local Source Water Protection grant. This grant will allow SRPC staff to partner with both Rollinsford and Milton to review the towns’ current stormwater management regulations and make necessary updates relating to construction site and stormwater runoff control. The project will also develop public education and participation strategies for Rollinsford.

Primary staff working on the project will include Kyle Pimental, principal regional planner, and Alaina Rogers, environmental planner.

Pieces of Interest

Workforce Housing Coalition January 2021 Newsletter

Transportation

During the week of Jan. 25 planning technician Stephen Geis worked on finalizing the 2019 Building Permit Report. This annual inventory produced by Strafford Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) provides a look at new development and growth in the Strafford Region. Through contractual agreement with the NHDOT, building permit information from each municipality is collected and analyzed. This data is used to update the Strafford MPO's Transportation and Land Use Model and for municipal development planning purposes.

As presented in the draft report, there were 32% less housing units built in 2019 than in the previous year, with 10% fewer permits issued. When considering unit type, there was a 10% decrease in the number of multi-housing units permitted in 2018.

To find more specific information about this data, and statistics for your town, check back to http://strafford.org/services/housing.php, where the document will be posted by next Friday.

To view past iterations of this report, visit the Strafford MPO website .

Pieces of Interest

How the New Orleans Streetcar Revival Left Bus Riders Behind

Economic Development

On Wednesday, Jan. 27 communications and outreach planner Shayna Sylvia attended a webinar through UNH Cooperative Extension (UNHCE) focused on 'Starting Up Your Strategic Plan: Tools for Conducting the Process.' This webinar provided useful strategies and tools for working through the strategic planning process with non-profits, and other local boards, businesses and organizations. Information gained from this training will prove useful in SRPC’s role assisting with the Explore Moose Mountains initiative as they look into creating a strategic plan in the coming year.

For those interested the training was recorded and will be available next week on UNHCE’s Youtube Page.

UNHCE will hold a subsequent training in the spring which will allow entities to workshop their strategic planning initiatives with the help on UNHCE staff. Check back to UNHCE's event calendar for more information when it becomes available, or sign up for their email updates.

Pieces of Interest

Main Street After COVID-19: What do downtowns need to adapt?

Workshop #1: Pop-Ups – Lessons Learned (Restaurants)

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

Jan. 29, 2021