New Blog Post

We are shifting over to tumblr for the blog. Today's is on 6 elements of planning. Check it out at: http://dovernhplanning.tumblr.com/post/23542753063/basic-planning-building-blocks or just follow the blog itself at http://dovernhplanning.tumblr.com

Tracking Success

As we celebrate ten years of revived passenger rail service in Dover, here's what I remember the day the Downeaster came to town. I remember that on December 15, 2001, I had lunch at the pizza place next door to the transportation center, and watched the festivities from there, as opposed to being part of the mob, with a fellow employee of the Community Services Department.

I remember that I felt bad for Bruce. Bruce was the planner (who recently retired) who had championed the City's efforts to secure the train stopping in Dover. I felt bad because Bruce was in the Air National Guard and he had been called up as part of the massive call up post 9/11. So as people were celebrating the arrival of something he had worked so hard to help secure, Bruce was in the Middle East defending the rest of us.

Beyond that specific day, what I think about the Downeaster falls into two categories. The first is emotional and the second is rational. The emotional is the connection the Downeaster has to parental memories. My son was 3 in 2001. He and I would drive downtown, get a coffee and a pastry, run to the post office for the mail (we had a PO Box), and then head to the transportation center to watch the train come through every Saturday. We rode it for the first time together in December of 2002, when we went to Exeter and back.

My son's reaction to seeing the train, and (in my experience) general every child's reaction is that of elation. Kids love to see the train come into town, and they love to ride trains when they can. This feeling I think is second only to planners love of the idea of a train, or mass transit for that matter. Not sure where the emotional connection comes from (that's why its emotional, right?), but it is a visceral response. Eyes light up, we start swaying to a fro, get nervous; the whole nine yards. You'd think the prom was coming up and we are taking a model.

This flows into the rational connection I have with the Downeaster. We are very lucky as a community to have not only the Downeaster stop through Dover, but to have our station downtown. The ability for travelers to step off the train, cross the street (admittedly not the safest crossing), and shop, eat, stroll, etc, is a true bonus for us. I won't go into ridership numbers or the statistical info, but will say they are excellent and continue to grow each year.

The Downeaster was Amtrak's fastest-growing service in fiscal years 2006 and 2008, and continues to be a route that brings in necessary revenue for the Amtrak system. Are there things that could be improved upon? Sure, there are in every aspect of life. That said, on a birthday, let's focus on the great thing it is to be located on this line, to be able to experience that feeling of giddy joy riding the train and celebrate ten years of success.

Summertime Goings On

So, here we are deep into Summer 2011. If we were in elementary or secondary school we might argue it just began, but I think for adults more and more the lines of summertime blur and extend. So, in my mind we are deep in the summer. It is the All Star Break for the baseball season, so it must be the middle of summer.

I was thinking last night about summer projects. One I really want to tackle this summer is scanning documents and cleaning up some files and paperwork in the office. I know this has been on the back burner for what feels like eons. It is an ongoing battle to review and reduce the amount of paper we have in the office. Even better if we can weed out extraneous stuff and then scan it and make it available to the public via the internet and save us all time.

Another project is the Capital Improvements Program. There are two elements to this, one regrouping and redefining the 2013-2018 plan for presentation to the Planning Board and City Council in the fall. The second element is using the web to track progress on the FY 2012 projects as they get underway this year. I need to pin down some specifics on how we will do this.

A third project is the ever present review of zoning and land use regulations. A month ago we had a meeting with consultants from the Environmental Protection Agency, and their consultants who were retained to perform an audit of our regulations. They suggested areas we can look to make changes to encourage sustainability. I will be looking over these recommendations and bring them forward to the Planning Board towards the end of the summer.

Catching up is another "always on the list" task. In this case I need to catch up on some reading of journals and trends. Additionally, we need to review some procedures for the CDBG program and for the way we investigate code complaints.

A summer project is to determine where some of the sustainability programs we started in the winter will go now that we no longer have a Sustainability Coordinator. As I mentioned last month, we did not have funding in the, now, current budget to keep that position in play. I will be reviewing the tasks and programming started and evaluating how we can maintain some if not all of them.

So, that's my summer to be. Oh, that and one more project. To use this blog to answer some questions about why areas are zoned, and to also update people on existing programs, such as the Fast Trans, and Pay N Display parking program. For that last item, I will be bringing Bill Simmons from the Police Department in for an interview, as Bill is the Parking Manager for the City.

The 2011 Commute Green New Hampshire Challenge

Beginning today, May 16, the City of Dover is taking part in the 2011 Commute Green New Hampshire Challenge. This challenge looks to push us to walk, bike, carpool, take transit (bus, train, FasTrans), basically do whatever we can not to commute in a single occupancy vehicle.

The City has formed a team, and has invited volunteers and staff to participate in our team, as we look to lower our carbon footprint, and encourage multi-modal transit in the City. As part of the challenge we are encouraging participants to come to the Dover Transportation Center on Friday, May 20th, to partake in free coffee and breakfast. The coffee has been donated by NH Coffee Roasters and the breakfast by Holy Rosary Credit Union.

C & J Bus lines is participating at both their Dover and Portsmouth locations. They will have coffee and donuts for commuters every day this week to celebrate and encourage commuting.

That's great that we are doing all this, but what is Commute Green New Hampshire?

Commute Green New Hampshire is the annual promotion which encourages commuters to choose healthier and more environmentally-friendly transportation options. It doesn't matter if you are commuting to work, school, shopping or run of the mill trips. If you make the trip, make it green.

According to Commute Green's web site:
· U.S. families spend about $9,000 a year on transportation costs.
· More than 22 percent of all motor vehicle trips Americans take are less than one mile in length, and 50 percent of the working population commutes five miles or less to work.
· One car emits about 20 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon of gasoline it uses, but each New Hampshire resident can reduce the equivalent of about taking two cars a year off the road just by carpooling, bicycling, walking or using public transportation three days a week.

That is all impressive, but what is more impressive is how simple it is to make an effort to be more green and to commute with someone else, or using a healthier mode of transportation. It just takes a bit of pre-planning. I know not everyone can walk to work. I know some of you have a longer commute than my one mile (it is uphill both ways), and might not live near your co-workers, but maybe you can make a pact to meet at a park n ride in the middle with a coworker, and figure out a way to commute green part of the trip.

All I ask, and all that the project asks, is that you give it a try this week. Figure out a small way to be part of the challenge and we all will be better off for it.

Activated Planning

What... two blog posts in one week? Wow, something must be up!

That's right folks, I've been inspired. Yesterday (Tuesday), was a day of active planning. Not to imply that regular day to day activities don't include planning, nor to imply that the day to day activities aren't important, but we all get bogged down in the day to day, and when something out of the ordinary comes along, you can get inspired by it.

Yesterday was one of those days. On the face of it, a day of 4 meetings, and some administrative work, might seem day to day. Bonus was the two main meetings. The first was a session with residents, business owners, transit providers and civic leaders to discuss ways to improve our wayfinding in downtown Dover.

What is wayfinding? It can be signage, but it is a much larger concept. Think about the tools we use to get around town. It isn't just signs - in the literal sense. We use clues such as activity and street furniture and lighting styles to be aware that we are in the downtown area.

The meeting was a great kick off to what I see as a project to highlight Dover's assets, our waterfall, our river, our shops and restaurants, and our museums. The meeting was geared to generate excitement among the stakeholders, and I think it did just that. It was fun to discuss Dover as a resident and as a tourist trying to get around.

The second meeting of note was a workshop the Sustainable Dover program hosted on permaculture. What the heck is permaculture? It is designing development with nature in mind. It is the idea that we are part of nature and need to design our homes, neighborhoods and communities to be part of nature and not fight nature.

Steve Whitman, a planner from Plymouth, who in my estimation is one of the most visionary and proactive planners in New Hampshire, came and taught 12 of us the basic philosophy and framework of this concept. It is not new, and Steve isn't the innovator, but it is new to many peoples conscious, and Steve has immersed himself and family into the idea. He has developed a sideshow that demonstrates the philosophy and framework using examples from his home and life.

I am not going to try and summarize the 12 points involved, or even try to explain the overall concept more than I have. Instead I am going to dwell on it, and review my own activities and make lifestyle changes to embrace the philosophy and I hope to continue to be inspired by the workshop, and its companion workshop in 2 weeks.It was great to see a concept that is complicated, but makes so much sense, and is obtainable with some minor changes to your life (composting etc).

I went home at 9:30 last night and didn't mind a bit that I had last stepped foot in the house 15 hours earlier. I didn't mind, because I was so jazzed about the great work we had completed during the day. It was rewarding to be encouraged by the stakeholders involved with the wayfinding project, and then to be inspired by learning something new and adoptable, was that much more energizing.

So, how do we replicate that energy today? We'll see and I'll let you know.

Dover's FastTrans

One of the project that the Planning Department has championed is the high frequency inner city bus service, known as the FastTrans. This project is providing regular, hourly bus service from downtown to homes, businesses, and remote parking in the city. There are three FastTrans routes, numbered 33, 34, and 35, which run every hour, from about 7AM until 7PM, Monday through Friday. Also as part of the FastTrans project, service on COAST Route 1, which serves downtown as well as the Dover Housing Authority, has been increased to hourly frequency.

This project was begun at the direction of the City of Dover to provide fast and affordable transportation throughout the greater downtown area. The project is funded through a "CMAQ" (Congestion Mitigation Air Quality) grant submitted by the Planning Department and approved (a federal grant for projects that will improve air quality and reduce traffic congestion) by the state and Federal Highway Administration. Funding for the local match of 20% come from the City of Dover out of registration fees and from Strafford County.

The goal in designing these routes for the City was to connect dense residential areas, remote parking lots, and transportation centers, with the core downtown area. These routes were each designed to make a full round-trip every hour. Users can get where they need to go in town as fast as they would in a car, and they can get back within an hour. Besides the high frequency of service, we've set the fare for these routes at just 50 cents. Whether you're a visitor coming in on the train or C&J, a resident with a car, or an employee of a Dover business, there's no better way to get around town.

The success of this project has been very rewarding. Dover has continuously worked towards reducing congestion downtown through offering transportation alternatives, but at the same time we do not want to totally discourage those that want the independence of driving. The Planners in Dover recognize that while we need to address our automobile dependencies we also need to be realistic about transportation limitations.

FastTrans is just one more way we can work to reflect the public's needs and desires. This project was developed as part of the City's Transportation Improvement Program, which is contained within the Capital Improvements Plan. This plan is about to come up for review again, and contains continuations of the FastTrans project as well as other new and exciting opportunities.

Liveable Walkable Community

Many times we hear, especially in Planning, the term livable/walkable communities. This is a New Urbanist term, and has come to mean a community that is pedestrian friendly. In 2002 Dan Burden came to Dover and did a walkable audit of the City. We fared pretty well.

I don't necessarily consider myself a "New Urbanist" nor do I consider my department a "new urbanistic" department, though for disclosure I am a member of the Congress for New Urbanism. I argue that in an almost 400 year old community one can't be all that "new" urban. Instead I believe that I am (and by default my department) an urban planner in the traditional sense. I believe in pedestrian friendly, dense downtown areas surrounded by rural areas, with a middle ground - transition are - in between. I believe that we should encourage our economic growth to occur in the center or commercial nodes, as opposed to typical post WWII sprawling commercial growth. The Miracle Mile- Central Avenue - has its place, but should not be the focus of our economic growth.

Part of that philosophy spurred my wife and I to purchase a home which allows me to walk or bike to work. This week I began that process. It is maybe a mile from door to door. I enjoy either the bike or walk. The only downside, which I discovered last night after a Council Meeting that got out after midnight, was that I was not in the mood to make the trek home on foot power (truth be told I foresaw this and drove to work yesterday). Being this close to work, also means I am close to downtown amenities and can walk to get an ice cream, eat dinner out, or the Cochecho Arts Festival this summer.

All in all I think pedestrian (and by this term I am including biking) is a good way to benefit the economy, the community and our own health. According to a report prepared by the Maine Development Foundation, "walking improves community interaction as people are more likely to talk with neighbors and shop in local stores when they are walking through a community. It also provides easy, inexpensive and low-impact exercise that can improve the overall health of community residents. Walking instead of driving also protects environmental quality. Reducing vehicular emissions benefits plants, watersheds, and the health of wildlife and people alike."

Livable communities are ones which provide amenities and those amenities are easily served in a community the size of Dover. We are fortunate to have a compact, accessible and vibrant downtown. One reason I walk to work is to experience that downtown as much as I can. When you drive through town you're goal is to get from the railroad tracks to Silver Street as soon as possible, and you don't have the opportunity to window shop or people watch.

Now, I am not saying we should zone out rural zoning. Above all I believe we are a market driven society and what I like in a house, and what you like may be vastly different and as long the community character is in place, we should allow for many types of housing styles and locations. Instead I am just encouraging everyone to consider the opportunities around you to walk, and window shop; get out and explore your street, neighborhood or our downtown on foot and see what it has to offer.