Comprehensive & Strategic Plans

Master Plan and Comprehensive Zoning Revision
Portsmouth, NH (2004-2009)

The City of Portsmouth, NH is a vibrant and attractive economic and cultural center of the Seacoast NH region with an industrial port close to the City’s attractive and vibrant Central Business District. Taintor & Associates led a team of consultants to assist the City in updating its Master Plan. Unique to this project was a volunteer-organized and run “Study Circles” process, which involved hundreds of community members identifying and discussing the core issues that face the City as it thinks about its future.

Using public input as a base, the plan outlined a few main themes that underline the majority of the Plan’s recommendations. They are:

• Downtown Vitality;
• Corridor Areas;
• Supporting a Diverse Community;
• Resource Protection and Sustainability.

The plan comprised ten elements, which translated into over two hundred strategies for implementation. The Plan was adopted by unanimous votes of the Planning Board and City Council.

Subsequently, Taintor & Associates was hired by the City to undertake a Comprehensive Zoning Revision in order to implement many of the recommendations of the Master Plan.