January 8, 2020
Strafford Regional Planning Commission Newsletter
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Photo of Mount Washington taken from the Mount Washington Hotel following the 2019 NNECAPA Conference (SRPC Photo).
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Greetings,
I hope everyone was able to take some time this holiday season to relax, and to spend time with family and friends where safe and possible. I know for me that although my family gatherings were smaller, I got to connect with family on the west coast over Zoom, which was great. As we enter this new year let us continue to safely navigate through these coming months, with the hope of the vaccine lessening the impacts of the COVID-19 virus to keep us optimistic.
In this issue you will find information on the American Planning Association's call for proposals for its annual conference, an article authored by the nine rpc executive directors and published in Town & City Magazine, planning events of interest, tackling homelessness in NH, SRPC's next Commission meeting, news you may have missed, and community happenings.
Until Next Month,
Shayna Sylvia
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IN THIS ISSUE
APA Calls for Proposals for Annual Conference
SRPC's Latest Featured Article in Town & City Magazine
Planning Events of Interest
Taking on Homelessness in NH
Save the Date: SRPC February Commission Meeting
In Case You Missed It
Community Happenings
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STAFF SNAPSHOTS - DECEMBER |
Staff holiday picture. (SRPC photo)
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American Planning Association Calls for Proposals for Virtual 2021 National Planning Conference |
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The annual American Planning Association's National Planning Conference, which was scheduled to take place in Boston in 2021, has been moved to a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The conference, which will occur in May, has a focus on the following themes:
- Addressing a legacy of inequality
- COVID recovery and reinvention
- Emerging transportation and infrastructure
- Leveraging rapid technological changes
- Planning practice innovation
- Resilient planning in a changing climate
If you or a colleague have an idea for a presentation that would fall into one of these topic areas, proposals can be submitted on the conference website.
Do be aware that proposals are due on Monday, Jan. 11 at 1 p.m.
Proposals on topics outside of those listed above will also be entertained and can be summitted here.
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SRPC's Latest Featured Article - What Can Your RPC Do For You? |
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The executive directors from each of the nine regional planning commissions (rpc) recently collaborated to write an article about the type of services provided by rpcs to municipalities across the state.
The article highlights the following areas:
- Master Planning, Zoning and Land Use Regulation
- Circuit Riding
- Intermunicipal Coordination
- Transportation Planning
- Bicycle and Pedestrian Counting
- Housing Build-Out and Suitability Analyses
- Economic Development Planning
- Emergency Management Planning
- Water Resource Planning
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Planning Events of Interest |
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Northern New England Legislative Update- Friday, Jan. 22 from 1 - 2:30 p.m.
2020 was a strange year, and state legislatures and their processes were substantially impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. This webinar will provide a state-by-state review of the outcomes of the 2020 legislative sessions in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont with a focus on matters of importance to planners. The panel will also provide a preview of their respective 2021 legislative sessions.
Manufactured Housing: a Solution to the Affordable Housing Crisis, on the Seacoast- Wednesday, Jan. 27 from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m.
Manufactured housing is often left out of conversations about New Hampshire’s housing crisis. But manufactured housing is part of the solution, so it should be part of the conversation.
Join the Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast to hear Sarah Wrightsman, executive director, kick off the session about manufactured housing in the greater seacoast region. Attendees will hear why manufactured housing should be part of the conversation about New Hampshire’s housing crisis and about the Woodbury Cooperative in Portsmouth, NH. Attendees will hear from Tara Reardon, the ROC-NH Director at the NH Community Loan Fund, and Ignatius MacLellan, Managing Director of the Homeownership Division at New Hampshire Housing.
Starting Up Your Strategic Plan: Tools for Conducting the Process - Wednesday, Jan. 27 from 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
UNH Cooperative extension will host an upcoming training aimed at groups finding themselves at a crossroads.
This free webinar gives an introductory overview of the strategic planning process, along with some tips and best practices for groups deciding which direction to go, adapting to the changing conditions, or determining the steps to achieve a vision.
Participants are encouraged to bring along their questions, comments and ideas as they are guided through a simulated scenario.
Register for the free training online.
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Taking on Homelessness in New Hampshire |
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Homelessness is an on-going issue across the state of NH with the latest point-in-time count noting a 21 percent increase over the prior year. As explained in the NH Coalition to End Homelessness Annual Report, "The Point-In-Time Count is a required annual count of individuals experiencing unsheltered and sheltered homelessness including those staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing, and Safe Havens¹.” Results from the January 2020 count included a total of over 4,450 homeless individuals.
To respond to homelessness in the Strafford Region, the mayors of Dover, Somersworth and Rochester formed the Tri-City Joint Task Force on Homelessness in 2018 as part of a regional initiative, including the creation of a master plan. For the 2021 winter season, a $1 million CARES Act grant was awarded through the NH Housing and Finance Authority to support the purchase of a two-story building in Somersworth for a winter warming shelter. This will run with supplementary funds from a county grant for up to 60 nights in 2021.
In late 2020, Strafford Regional Planning Commission partnered with the Strafford Community Action Partnership (CAP) to secure a CDBG-CV grant which allowed an emergency overnight shelter to be housed at the Garrison Hotel in Dover for the winter season. Congress provided $5 billion in the CARES Act for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program to states, metropolitan cities, urban counties, and rural areas.
This grant will also support Strafford CAP to run a day center for homeless individuals. These services and shelter provide critical hygiene facilities to stop the spread of disease, transportation to essential services, coordinated access to food, laundry etc. In addition, this service connects the population to transitional housing, social services, mental health and addiction services under one roof. These two shelters in the region serve an important need that has been overdue for years for this vulnerable population.
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Save the Date: SRPC February Commission Meeting |
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Save the Date for the next quarterly Commission meeting which will take place on Thursday, Feb, 25 at 3:45 p.m. via Zoom.
This meeting will allow SRPC staff to discuss the new Communities for Healthy Aging Transitions (CHAT) project. In line with the project's mission to foster diverse, equitable, inclusive, livable environments where people can grow and thrive, regardless of age, SRPC will also invite a guest speaker to discuss aging-friendly initiatives in the region and state.
More information, and registration details will be posted on our website as they become available.
Contact Shayna Sylvia, Communications and Outreach Planner for more information.
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SRPC Seeking Input of Favorite Winter Recreation Sites
SRPC staff want to know your favorite winter recreation sites in the Strafford region!
Winter recreation sites can include sledding hills, skating rinks, or places to snowshoe, cross-country ski, downhill ski, or any other place you go in the winter for recreation purposes.
View the survey, which includes more information, online.
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Request for Qualifications: Transportation Engineering Services
SRPC is requesting statements of qualifications to provide on-call engineering services in support of transportation planning efforts throughout the SRPC region. Efforts include scoping and developing preliminary cost estimates for transportation improvement projects that may be funded with local, state, or federal funds (including Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration); development of a transportation project database; and on-call TransCAD travel demand modelling support.
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Dover 400 Lecture Series: Indigenous People of Piscataqua Watershed
Jan. 12 at 7 p.m.
Dover400, a committee of residents organizing Dover’s 400th Anniversary, recently announced it will host a historical lecture series chronicling Dover’s significant past, starting in January 2021 and continuing every month throughout 2021. Each presentation will be held at 7:00pm on the second Tuesday of the month starting on January 12, 2021. Initially, the series will be virtual lectures.
The first session will pay tribute to the Native people who occupied the region prior to colonization by white settlers, and will start with a Land Acknowledgment by Dover resident and Native American Kathleen Blake.
Next, David Miller will present “Indigenous People of the Piscataqua Watershed” and share his extensive research which has uncovered many of the Wabanaki/Abenaki lifeways. Miller will explore what he calls the “Great Bay Paradise” that existed in up to 20 Native villages bordering the rivers of our region.
Attendees will learn about both the proven data, garnered through maps and early documents, and also hear some intriguing speculation regarding the many still-unknown facts about early Native people.
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Guided Nature Walk at Stonehouse Forest - Hosted by White Pine Programs
Jan. 16 at 10 a.m.
Join White Pine Programs Educator & Naturalist Ryan Busby for an exploration of Stonehouse Forest as he shares techniques for awakening your senses to the living landscape. Wildlife tracking, bird language, pattern recognition and natural movement are just some of the topics that could come up on the walk.
This event is for adults and children 10+ years of age.
Register and learn more online. |
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'Toxic Youth' at UNH Museum of Art
On View Virtually until 4/2/21
A new online exhibit of sketchbooks, Toxic Youth, by New York Times editor and University of New Hampshire alumnus, Dana Jennings ’80 will be on view on the Museum of Art’s website, December 14, 2020 – April 2, 2021.
Toxic Youth features volumes 2, 3, and 4 of Jennings’s sketchbooks that recall his experiences and memories of his youth, working with his father at Kingston Steel Drum factory. Jennings scoured industrial 55-gallon steel drums used to hold paint and motor oil, pesticides, and other chemicals. The factory, shut down by the EPA in the early 1980s, became a Superfund hazardous waste site that is still monitored today.
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