Skip to main content

Design

Accessibility/ADA

Context Sensitive Design

  • ContextSensitiveSolutions.org
    Context Sensitive Solutions is a collaborative, interdisciplinary, holistic approach to the development of transportation projects. It is both process and product, characterized by a number of attributes. It involves all stakeholders, including community members, elected officials, interest groups, and affected local, state, and federal agencies. It puts project needs and both agency and community values on a level playing field and considers all trade–offs in decision making. Often associated with design in transportation projects, Context Sensitive Solutions should be a part of all phases of program delivery including long range planning, programming, environmental studies, design, construction, operations, and maintenance.
  • NH Route 111 Corridor Study - Windham
  • The project was the first corridor planning study in the region employing a true Context Sensitive Solutions approach, which proved to be very effective despite a challenging environment.
  • Place Making and Context Sensitive Solutions NRPC fact sheet #2 (see more fact sheets from NRPC)

Design Guidelines

  • Claremont City Center Design Guidelines, March 11, 2013
    The Claremont City Center Design Guidelines are a resource to property owners, designers, builders, developers, town officials and volunteers as they seek to guide growth and preserve the character of Claremont City Center. Preservation of that character means a continuation of the patterns of design and the materials and methods of the traditional fabric currently in place.

Design Review

Environmental Assistance and Permitting

  • Local Government Environmental Assistance Network (LGEAN) is a "first-stop shop" providing environmental management, planning, funding and regulatory information for local governments, elected and appointed officials, managers and staff.
  • DES OneStop Database - The Clearinghouse for DES Environmental Information
    OneStop is a user-friendly, online, searchable database comprised of environmental information and data compiled by DES programs. OneStop does not provide access to all existing DES data, however, available information includes: sources of environmental interest; GIS data; environmental monitoring data; ordering sampling equipment for environmental testing; permit statuses; and information on local businesses that provide various environmental services, ranging from hazardous waste transportation to water well contractors. OneStop data is based on each program's procedures and standards. The data is regularly updated, however, unintentional inaccuracies may occur.
    • One-Stop Data Mapper - an interactive web map that allows viewing and querying environmental data across NHDES programs. The new Mapper replaces the NHDES One-Stop Web Geographic Information System. The Mapper is mobile ready and offers greater functionality with more tools for searching and downloading geospatial data. The Mapper is also linked to NHDES One-Stop Data allowing the public access to thousands of documents in the NHDES digital library.
  • Navigating Environmental Permitting Issues - Barry Needleman and Ed Wojnowski, New Hampshire Town and City, June 2006
  • New Hampshire's Environmental Dashboard - To help New Hampshire citizens get a sense of the State's environmental well-being, NHDES has created a web-based New Hampshire Environmental Dashboard, which provides the public with a basic status report on a short list of key environmental indicators.
  • 2017 NH Small MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) General Permit - Nashua Regional Planning Commission, March 2017

Infill Development

Low Impact Development (LID)

Outdoor Lighting

  • HB585 AN ACT relative to outdoor lighting efficiency (Chapter 212, Laws of 2009)
    • Requires all new and replacement outdoor lighting (including roadway lighting) installed with state funds to be fully shielded, "dark-sky friendly," and not to exceed minimum lighting levels recommended by the standards organization IESNA (Illuminating Engineering Society of North America) unless it can be shown that compliance would increase installation costs or compromise safety.
    • Requires utilities to provide fully shielded dark-sky compliant streetlight fixtures to NH municipalities as the default model, although local governments can choose other designs if they wish.
    • Requires the Public Utilities Commission to set a "midnight service" rate for street lighting that allows utilities to install inexpensive timers on non-essential lights selected by municipalities, to turn them off at midnight, thereby cutting energy consumption by half. PUC has estimated a potential savings to NH communities on the order of $1 million annually.
    • Establishes a statewide policy of protecting New Hampshire dark skies as a cultural asset important to rural character and the tourism industry.
  • Outdoor Lighting (undergoing revisions)
    Created in the Spring of 2007, this technical bulletin focuses on the issues surrounding outdoor lighting. The first section provides information on the science and use of outdoor lighting, and highlights important issues. The second section summarizes some technical information on specific kinds of lighting, describes how to apply this technology, and provides model ordinance language.
  • Outdoor Lighting (EIP-28)
    When you look into the sky at night, can you see the stars? Light pollution is on the rise across the country, resulting in wasted energy, disruption of nocturnal ecosystems, harm to human health, and poor nighttime ambiance. In response, a growing number of communities are adopting outdoor lighting ordinances with "dark sky" principles intended to balance safety issues with the prevention of excessive lighting, light trespass, and glare. This PAS Essential Info Packet provides a look at how communities concerned about light pollution can address outdoor lighting in their policies and regulations. It includes excerpts from comprehensive plans, several model outdoor lighting ordinances with commentaries, and sample outdoor lighting ordinances from municipalities large and small.
  • Preserving Dark Skies Model (chapter 3.4), Innovative Land Use Planning Techniques
  • Outdoor Lighting Manual for Vermont Municipalities Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission
  • International Dark-Sky Association (lots of great information about outdoor lighting and light pollution)
  • The New England Light Pollution Advisory Group
  • Implementation of Decision-Making Tools that Address Light Pollution for Localities Planning Street Lighting Sponsor - The Connecticut Light and Power Company, Presented by The Lighting Research Center (LRC) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  • The Up and Down of Outdoor Lighting Michele McColgan Ph. D., Lighting Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  • How-to Guide to Effective Energy-Efficient Street Lighting, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
  • LED Street Lighting Assessment and Strategies for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic
    This report assesses the current status of LED street light conversion barriers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region. It provides a quantitative analysis of the regional street lighting efficiency opportunity and a recommended strategy to address the barriers and achieve large scale conversion. Finally, the report provides information on activities and progress across the region to install LED street lighting.
  • New Hampshire Electric Cooperative "Dark Skies" Program
  • Lighting Project Brings Out the Stars in Waterville Valley
  • See the results of the Municipal Land Use Regulation Annual Survey for municipalities with Outdoor Lighting regulations.

Soil Mapping/Lot Sizing