Peer-to-Peer Citizen Planner Roundtable
- October 15, 2024
- Planning
Gilsum Public Library was humming with chatter on Wednesday night, September 11th as SWRPC staff held a peer-to-peer roundtable event for local citizen planners. The group of 15 municipal planning board members were from all over the Monadnock Region, from Alstead, Marlow, Sullivan, and Gilsum to Harrisville, Dublin, Fitzwilliam, Temple, and Greenville.
Attendees were welcomed into the library by members of the Monadnock Resource Alliance, a group of local volunteers who work on various regional issues. Sandwiches, fruit, cookies, and other light refreshments were generously provided by the Community Kitchen. An assortment of folding chairs, desk chairs, and rocking chairs were arranged in a cozy circle, and after 15 minutes of time set aside for networking, SWRPC’s Todd Horner started the meeting.
Common themes, new synergies
A round of introductions revealed common themes in the room: all were from rural towns, all were volunteering their time, and all were hungry for this kind of peer-to-peer discussion. Facilitation followed a Rose, Bud, Thorn structure to highlight recent successes, upcoming projects, and current challenges. This was supposed to be a speedy, pass-the-hot-potato-style exercise, but it quickly became clear that these planning board members were eager to collaborate.
As each member shared their respective rose, bud, and thorn, an unexpected synergy bubbled up between towns. This sharing of experiences and resources demonstrated the common issues that rural planning boards are dealing with in the 21st century. For example, multiple towns recently transitioned their document storage from hard-copy filing systems to digital cloud-based storage. Regardless of platform – Google, OneDrive, and Dropbox were all mentioned- these towns emphasized the ease of file location, email communication, and public participation that accompanied the online transition. A few other towns were still having difficulty with consistent email addresses, document storage, and public noticing, to which the previous towns gladly lent suggestions, potential solutions, and available resources. This exchange of ideas and information continued throughout the evening.
Other roses included the passing of amended accessory dwelling unit ordinances, conducting routine maintenance to ordinances, and developing planning board rules of procedure so that meetings are efficient, expectations and timelines are clear, and processes are by-the-book. Consistent communication with zoning boards of adjustment, select boards, town attorneys, the NH Office of Planning and Development, and consultants was also emphasized.
Upcoming projects, current challenges
Buds were identified as master plan updates, planning board member education, increasing public participation, and individual town projects such as telecommunication infrastructure and steep-slope ordinances. Interest in a circuit-rider planning service was also prominent.
Thorns mainly surrounded resource management—be that time, people, or funds. There was consistent sentiment that volunteers are not adequately equipped to deal with the depth of knowledge required to address the breadth of topics covered by municipal planning boards. Small towns often feel a disproportionate burden from right-to-know laws, public notices, and paperwork, which is compounded by chronic vacancies of board seats. Keeping up with day-to-day responsibilities has also made it difficult for planning boards to make progress on informed, long-term town planning. This can be especially true when problem-solving for chicken-and-egg issues like the funding of public services, housing needs, and zoning strategies to maintain the character of individual towns.
Future roundtables
Although it was clear that town planning boards were experiencing some challenges, the energy brought to the roundtable event was palpable. The meeting went slightly overtime and could still have extended another hour. Demand for additional roundtables has increased since the event, especially for rural-focused conversations. Future meetings could potentially invite subject matter experts on topics such as volunteerism, steep-slopes, and how to balance housing needs with conservation goals, or could continue peer networking and learning. SWRPC followed up the event with a summary of the discussion and next steps; this document was distributed to attendees.
The next Citizen Planner Peer-to-Peer Roundtable discussion is tentatively scheduled for December 5th in Temple; more details to come. Contact Chloe Gross at [email protected] for additional information.
To learn more about how SWRPC supports municipal planning, visit www.swrpc.org/programs-services/local-planning.
Photo credit to Gilsum Public Library – The Town of Gilsum NH (gilsum-nh.gov)
