UVLSRPC Projects
Project Administrator:
Christine Walker
Project Title:
Municipal Policy Audits
Related Services:
Land Use Planning, Economic Development
Project Summary:
The project will assist municipalities within the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Region with policy opportunities that cultivate foundations for sustainable communities.
The Commission will solicit communities to engage in regulatory/policy audit processes that will demonstrate how to incorporate measures that enable appropriately scaled grocery stores to locate in areas that encourage walkable communities. The product that will be provided from the regulatory policy audit will include a list of recommendations that: reduce barriers to mixed-use development, encourage production, distribution and procurement of local foods, improve the availability of mechanisms for purchasing foods from local farms, provide incentives to food retailers to locate in/or offer healthier food and beverage choices, improve geographic availability of grocery stores in underserved areas, improve walkability of downtown villages, and encourage support for infrastructure improvements that provide safe alternative means of transportation to village centers. The housing needs assessment data will be used in combination with the results of the food source mapping results to create recommendations for policy changes based on future projects of housing that may be needed within the region. These recommendations will be provided as part of the policy audit that is conducted for three municipalities in the region.
Additional Information
Funders:
- US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Community Challenge Planning Grant
- Dartmouth Hitchcock Healthy Eating Active Living Initiative