2014 Award Nomination Forms - DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO MARCH 17TH!!!
          Click here for the Awards Cover Letter
          Click here for the Awards Eligibility Criteria
          Click here for the Awards Submission Form

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BOOK CLUB Discussion to be continued!  

If you missed us on 1/26/14, now is your chance to join us.

The "Death and Life of Great American Cities" by Jane Jacobs is full of discussion points, so we decided to keep the discussion going!

Join us at Republic Restaurant in Manchester @ 3:00pm on 3/9/14.

RSVP to Elizabeth Wood or (307) 751-0296

Next Book: "The Devil in the White City", by Erik Larson. 

Based on a true story about a serial killer who uses the 1893 Chicago World's Fair as a platform for his crime.  Gives you an interesting insight into Daniel Burnham, the "Father of City Planning" and the beginnings of the City Beautiful movement.  The kicker-the serial killer is a New Hampshire Native!

Time and Location to be Announced

NHPA held its Annual Meeting on Friday, November 1, 2013 at Fratello’s in Manchester which included the adoption of a new membership dues schedule to be implemented in 2014, and a modifications to the By-Laws to change the Sustainability Coordinator position to the Environmental and Sustainability Coordinator.

NHPA was fortunate to receive association management services from LGC through October of 2012 for free. At that time the Executive Committee evaluated its options and chose to contract with Cornerstone Association Management group to handle NHPA’s basic needs at an approximate cost of $3000 per year. To offset the increased costs the Executive Committee suggested a three-pronged approach to increase revenues including; increasing event registration fees, bringing in additional sponsors, and modifying the dues structure. The membership dues for 2014 will be $50 per year for traditional members, $15 for students and emeritus members, and $150 for Organizations with a cap of 5 members, each additional member beyond 5 would be $25. Thank you for supporting this solution!

Beyond the above initiatives, the Annual Meeting marks the official beginning and end of terms for Executive Committee Officers. Please join me in welcoming two new Officers this year, Sara Carbonneau (Swanzey) and Mark Connors (NRPC), as two others are stepping down.  I would like to extend a sincere thank you to Tara Germond and Camille Pattison for their years of service on the Executive Committee. Your dedication, ability to organize complex events and positive perspectives will be missed.

Check out the rest of the newsletter for more great news on planning around the State, including a new Taskforce on Complete Streets. The Conference Organizing Group (COG) is getting started on the Spring 2014 NHPA Conference, with a location to date to be finalized soon. Volunteers are always appreciated to help with the COG, please let us know if you are interested!

     Sarah Marchant, NHPA President

The Town of Merrimack, NH has hired Donna Pohli as their new Assistant Planner in the Community Development Department.  Donna comes to us from a recently completed fellowship with the City of Dover, NH’s Community Development Department and completing her Master of Public Administration degree from the University of New Hampshire.  Donna replaces Jeff Morrissette, who left Merrimack in May for the Town Planner position in Westford, MA.

Goodbye and good luck to Vanessa Goold of Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission. She and her husband have moved to Maryland to be closer to their families and pursue new endeavors.

Jodie L. Levandowski joined the Milford Community Development Office as the Town Planner this past June. After graduating from Plymouth State University in 2004 with a degree in environmental planning and GIS, Ms. Levandowski worked for the Manchester Planning and Economic Development Office and the Londonderry Community Development Office, and spent the last two years working as a land use consultant with a private firm on Long Island. 

Mary Brundage is NRPC’s Regional Planner and provides support on a variety of land use projects including the NH Broadband Planning and Granite State Future. Prior to joining NRPC, she has worked at the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission (SNHPC) as an Associate Planner. Her projects at SNHPC included scenic byways, open space plans, hazard mitigation, and source water protection. Mary has received her M.S. in Natural Resource Management at Antioch University New England and her B.S. in Geography from Montana State University.

One of NHPA's own, Steve Whitman of Jeffrey H. Taylor and Associates, has recently co-authored an article titled Taking the Permaculture Path to Community Resilience. The article appeared in Practicing Planner in June, and attempts to get planners to view our communities as the ecosystems they are and consider how the components of these places can be better integrated. Permaculture is a holistic, integrated system analysis and design tool that very few planners are using. Whitman and Ferguson suggest in the article that planners should know about permaculture and begin using it as a framework to guide their communities. The full article can be found at: http://www.planning.org/practicingplanner/default.htm