Of Plans and Planners - Winter 2007

• After nearly 10 years with the Bedford Planning Department, Nancy Larson started a new position with the Town of Merrimack as the Planning & Zoning Administrator on December 28, 2006.   Nancy’s primary duties will include administration & interpretation of the zoning ordinance; interaction with Conservation Commission, Zoning Board of Adjustment, Planning Board and other policy-making groups; answering land-use questions and providing staff reviews to the Board of Adjustment & the Planning Board.   Good luck to you Nancy!

• Karen White, Planning Director for the Town of Bedford is leaving the planning profession. After over 25 years of serving the New Hampshire planning community in both the private and public sectors, Karen is moving on to bigger and better things, the joys of retirement. For the last 18 years, Karen served the Town of Bedford, where she established the Planning Department. Karen produced the town’s performance-based zoning ordinance, one of the first in NH. She helped get legislation passed for the creation of regional water districts, and then organized 16 communities to write a Charter for the Merrimack Valley Regional Water District. Karen and her husband will be retiring to St. Augustine, Florida where they have a townhouse on Anastasia Island -- just two blocks away from the beach. She plans to improve her golf game and try her hand at writing mystery novels. To end, let me quote her: “No more night meetings -- hooray!” We are all jealous… have fun Karen!

• There’s been plenty of change at North Country Council, the regional planning commission in the most northern part of NH. Dylan Smith, their former community planner, left North Country Council this fall to join the staff at Rockingham Planning Commission. With this move he is hoping to gain a different experience in a faster pace region to possibly take back to the “country” in the future. The North Country Council also announces the hiring of James ‘Dan’ Shallow as the new Hazard Mitigation Planner. Dan comes to the Council with a diverse background and leadership skills to deliver planning processes within the North Country. Dan has been hired by the Council to conduct All-Hazard Mitigation Plans as well as the more detailed Wildland Fire Hazard Plans. The Council also hired Dari Sassan part-time. He is a graduate student at Plymouth State University and will be working in community and hazard mitigation planning.

• Adam Kurowski joined Lakes Region Planning Commission as a Regional Planner in the spring of 2006. He began his career in 2002 at the Institute for Community Inclusion, in Boston, Ma, where he conducted research, assisted in grant writing, and explored GIS mapping options to promote inclusion of people with disabilities in school, work, and community activities. He then worked for the Bureau of Emergency Communications 911 mapping unit as a lead Cartographer, before joining the LRPC.