News
2024-01-09 - Jan. 10 Legislative Forum Cancelled
RPC's Legislative Forum, which was scheduled for January 10, 2024, has been cancelled.
2023-09-01 - RPC's Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event - 10/21 in Exeter
Pre-Registation is Required
The 2023 Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event for Exeter, Stratham, Newfields, East Kingston, Epping, Seabrook and South Hampton has been scheduled for October 21, 2023, from 8:00 am - 12:00 pm.
- Preregistration is REQUIRED at 2023 Exeter Household Hazardous Waste Collection Registration
- You will choose a 30-minute dropoff timeslot; please arrive during your slot.
- A user fee of $15 to offset the costs will be collected during online registration.
The Rockingham Planning Commission has organized regional HHW serving communities in central Rockingham County New Hampshire since the mid 1980’s. Our program objectives include:
This regional collection serves the communities of Exeter, Stratham, Newfields, East Kingston, Epping, Seabrook and South Hampton with a combined population of 42,452. The collection is conducted in partnership with the Town of Exeter, whereby the RPC is the organizer and manager of the event and Exeter is fiscal agent, executes the NHDES household hazardous waste grant (which subsidizes the collection), and hosts the event at the Exeter Department of Public Works facility.
2022-12-22 - 2022 List of Obligated Projects
Federal funds committed to transportation projects in the region
The List of Obligated Projects is an annual statement by the Metropolitan Planning Organization detailing the expenditure of federal transportation funds in the region. When the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) or Federal Transit Administration (FTA) obligate funds, the agencies are committing federal resources to a specific transportation project, grant, or transit system. While obligations do not line up exactly with active construction of roadway projects, they do provide insight into what projects are being prepared for construction (engineering and design), are in construction, or have been recently completed. The 2022 Annual Listing of Obligated Projects has been published and details how the $123.5 million of federal funding obligated in the region was distributed to projects, programs, and transit agencies.
2021-12-14 - FY 2021 Annual List of Obligated Projects
Federal Transportation funds spent in the MPO Region
The List of Obligated Projects is an annual statement by the Metropolitan Planning Organization detailing the expenditure of federal transportation funds in the region. When the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) or Federal Transit Administration (FTA) obligate funds, the agencies are committing federal resources to a specific transportation project, grant, or transit system. While obligations do not line up exactly with active construction of roadway projects, they do provide insight into what projects are being prepared for construction (engineering and design), are in construction, or have been recently completed. The 2021 Annual Listing of Obligated Projects has been published and details how the $119.7 million of federal funding obligated in the region was distributed to projects, programs, and transit agencies.
2021-05-06 - NH Planning Commissions Announce Statewide Model Drinking Water Buffer Regulation and Workshop on May 24
NH Planning Commissions Announce Statewide Model Drinking Water Buffer Regulation
New Hampshire - Rockingham Planning Commission (RPC) and Strafford Regional Planning Commission (SRPC) are pleased to announce that as part of a joint effort, a model buffer regulation for communities to consider adopting to help protect local sources of drinking water will be available soon.
Funding from a 2020 NH Department of Environmental Services Local Source Water Protection grant was awarded to the Rockingham Planning Commission to develop a statewide model Drinking Water Quality Buffer Regulation for New Hampshire. The model will be helpful for a community considering how to protect surface water used as a source of drinking water. This model reflects guidance and feedback from local and statewide experts including the Model Drinking Water Buffer Regulation Advisory Committee, and other technical studies. The model recommends a minimum drinking water quality buffer based on these studies and offers guidance for considering landscape level and site-specific criteria to increase the minimum buffer, when appropriate, to provide increased protection for water quality.
The creation of this model is timely. For decades it has been recognized in New Hampshire that changes in land use and land conversion, alteration of drainage patterns, and loss of protective riparian areas have led to a decline in water quality. These stressors include population growth, alteration to natural landscape functions for commercial, residential, and industrial purposes, and climate change impacts such as drought in recent years. As development pressures continue, it will be imperative that communities work collaboratively to act, which include maintaining natural, vegetated buffers that protect valuable drinking water resources and may help improve water quality when implemented.
The planning commissions will be presenting the final draft model Drinking Water Quality Buffer Regulation to regional and statewide stakeholders at a workshop being held on Monday, May 24, 2021 from 2:00-4:00pm. All NH municipalities and stakeholders are welcome to attend this free workshop which will be held via online video conference. An invitation, registration information, and workshop agenda will be widely distributed and posted soon to the project website (see below).
For more information about the project, May workshop, and to view the draft model and other project resources please visit the project’s webpage.
Sincerely,
| Julie LaBranche Senior Planner, RPC | Kyle Pimental Principal Regional Planner, SRPC |
2021-04-01 - Rockingham Planning Commission Developing New Tools to Help Municipalities Adapt to Climate Change
Municipalities along New Hampshire’s coast are increasingly taking steps to adapt to rising seas and climate change. With grant funds from New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Coastal Program, Rockingham Planning Commission is developing a user-friendly coastal land use guide to inform local decision makers about climate change and increase the resiliency of our region. The coastal land use guide will cover a wide range of resilience and adaptation priorities, challenges, and opportunities in all 17 of New Hampshire’s Coastal Zone municipalities. Additionally, RPC is developing a framework for a regional sustainability program to help facilitate actions across New Hampshire’s coastal comminutes. This project is being conducted in partnership with the Strafford Regional Planning Commission, with support from multiple local and state partners.
Project funder, Kirsten Howard, NHDES Coastal Resilience Program Coordinator, shared that “This project is going to create some much-needed guiding language to help all of our coastal communities formalize the ways that they plan for increasing coastal flood risks and the ways that they create community resilience in land use policy. The DES Coastal Program is thrilled to be able to support the project and looks forward to the valuable products it will produce.” The guide will help facilitate adoption of recommended best practices by local decision makers using the best available New Hampshire based science, policy, and guidance. Implementation of model regulations and standards will be supported by ready to use products and provide multiple mechanisms for long-term adoption success and tracking of their effectiveness. Planning Commission is developing a user-friendly coastal land use guide to inform local decision makers about climate change and increase the resiliency of our region. The coastal land use guide will cover a wide range of resilience and adaptation priorities, challenges, and opportunities in all 17 of New Hampshire’s Coastal Zone municipalities. Additionally, RPC is developing a framework for a regional sustainability program to help facilitate actions across New Hampshire’s coastal comminutes. This project is being conducted in partnership with the Strafford Regional Planning Commission, with support from multiple local and state partners.
Given the challenges posed by climate change, the project will develop a framework for a regional sustainability and resiliency program, including a funding concept, as the long-term strategy to implement the coastal land use guide recommendations, and more broadly to increase the capacity of coastal municipalities to adapt and thrive. Tim Roache, Executive Director of the RPC, says that “addressing coastal hazards are important to our entire region and the guide will provide our communities with tools to plan for those changes.” The regional sustainability and resiliency program will be modeled after similar initiatives undertaken in New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Examples of successful regional cooperation, organization and implementation will be showcased.
For more information, visit the project webpage at www.therpc.org/sustainability, or contact Senior Planner/Project Manager Julie LaBranche at jlabranche@therpc.org or (603) 658-0522.
This project was funded, in part, by NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management under the Coastal Zone Management Act in conjunction with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Coastal Program.
2020-12-29 - FY20 Annual List of Obligated Projects
Federal Transportation Expenditures in the Region
The List of Obligated Projects is an annual statement by the Metropolitan Planning
Organization detailing the expenditure of federal transportation funds in the
region. When the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) or Federal Transit
Administration (FTA) obligate funds, the agencies are committing federal
resources to a specific transportation project, grant, or transit system. While
obligations do not line up exactly with active construction of roadway
projects, they do provide insight into what projects are being prepared for
construction (engineering and design), are in construction, or have been
recently completed. The 2020 Annual Listing of Obligated Projects has been published and details how the $89.8 million of federal funding obligated in the region was distributed to projects, programs, and transit agencies.
2018-12-19 - 2018 Annual List of Obligated Projects Published
$63 Million in federal funds dedicated to transportation projects in the region
“Obligated” projects are those that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) or Federal Transit Administration (FTA) have committed to reimbursing a share of the cost of construction or implementation. Pursuant to Federal Regulations in CFR §450.332, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO’s), as the entities responsible for maintaining the metropolitan transportation planning process, must make public an annual listing of projects for which federal transportation funds were obligated in the preceding fiscal year. These are generally projects that have been recently completed, are under construction, or are nearing construction, where federal transportation funds have been officially committed with a signed project agreement. The full report contains additional detail regarding these projects however some highlights include:
- $ 50.5 million dollars in Federal Highway funds committed in the RPC region in 32 contracts addressing bridge, roadway, bicycle, and pedestrian oriented projects.
- $ 12.5 Million in Federal Transit funds committed to COAST, CART, and UNH Wildcat Transit to support their operations and capital needs.
- $18.9 million obligated towards the replacement of the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge between Portsmouth, NH and Kittery, ME.
- $17.5 million obligated in the RPC region facilitating continued work on the I-93 expansion from Salem to Manchester.
Notice is hereby given that, acting in its capacity as the MPO for its planning district, the Rockingham Planning Commission has published its 2018 Annual Listing of Obligated Projects and made it available to be viewed and downloaded on the RPC website, www.rpc-nh.org. For more information, contact David Walker, Assistant Director, at the Rockingham Planning Commission, 156 Water St., Exeter, NH 03833; 603-778-0885 or email at dwalker@rpc-nh.org.
Additional detail on the Annual List of Obligated Projects
2018 Annual Listing of Obligated Projects
2018-05-22 - RPC Welcomes Meredith Houghton, Planning Technician
Meredith Houghton joined RPC this May as a temporary Planning Technician for the transportation and water resources programs. As such, she will be primarily supporting the implementation of both the Road Surface Management System (RSMS) and Regional Stream Crossing Assessment (RSCA) projects, which contribute to the New Hampshire Statewide Asset Data Exchange System (SADES).
This summer, RPC’s RSMS program will be focused on the towns of Epping and Fremont. The RSMS program provides state agencies and the participating municipalities with information on the road system’s condition and estimates for future maintenance costs. The main objective of this effort is to identify distressed pavement manifestations, such as cracking or rutting, so that municipalities can better prioritize maintenance projects to maximize their return on investment and road quality. Meredith will be assisting the field team with road assessments and data collection, which will provide information pertinent to the planning and budget preparation for the participating towns’ long-term maintenance programs.
In addition to the RSMS program, Meredith will also be supporting the RSCA project, building on five years of prior data collection efforts by RPC within the region. The program is a statewide initiative that is a collaboration of multiple partners, including the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) and Transportation (NHDOT), Fish and Game Department and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM). The RSCA program aims to evaluate stream crossings to address flood risks and identify problem culverts which may present a hazard to public safety and/or may hinder passage to wildlife. As part of the field team, Meredith will be collecting georeferenced data to locate and assess existing crossings. This data will allow for the prioritization of stream crossing replacement projects within a town, watershed or region. This season, RPC will be performing these assessments primarily within the western areas of the RPC region.
Meredith brings prior experience in environmental remediation and compliance/permitting to RPC, and is currently pursuing her graduate degree in Urban and Environmental Planning at Tufts University. Her most recent professional work has focused on stormwater compliance projects, as well as an invasive aquatic species management contract within a drinking water reservoir in Massachusetts. As an aspiring Environmental Planner, Meredith is excited to build on her knowledge of water resource management and broaden her perspective in transportation planning at RPC.Additional information on the RSMS and RSCA programs is available on the SADES and NHDES webpages.
2018-02-22 - MPO Public Participation Plan
45 Day Public Comment Period
The Rockingham Planning Commission announces the release for public comment of a draft update to the agency's Public Participation Plan (PPP). This plan sets out the policies, goals and approaches for public participation as part of transportation planning activities conducted by the Rockingham Planning Commission.
A 45-day public comment period for the Draft Public Participation Plan begins Friday, February 23rd, 2018 and concludes on Wednesday, April 11th, 2018. A public hearing to consider the updated plan and any received comments is scheduled for Wednesday April 11th, 2018, beginning at 7:00 PM at the Epping Town Hall (157 Main Street). The Planning Commission will meet after the public hearing to vote on adoption of the Public Participation Plan
The Rockingham Planning Commission is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) serving twenty-seven (27) communities in southeastern New Hampshire. The core role of the MPO is to ensure local input in the planning and programming of federally funded transportation projects. As part of this role, the MPO is required to implement a proactive public participation process that provides complete information, timely public notice, full public access to key decisions, and early and continuing participation of the public in developing plans.
Copies of all documents are available at the RPC offices, on the website Public Engagement page, and will be sent to interested parties by request. Written comments will also be accepted through close of business on April 11th, 2018 and may be addressed to:
Rockingham Planning Commission
156 Water Street
Exeter, NH 03833
Email: transportation@rpc-nh.org with Public Participation Plan in the subject line
For more information contact Scott Bogle at (603) 778-0885.
Draft MPO Public Participation Plan
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