Better food and gas prices would make this area better.
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Southwest Region Planning Commission
Monadnock Region Future: A Plan for Southwest New Hampshire
In 2014, the challenges facing the Southwest Region of New Hampshire are unprecedented. An aging population, failing infrastructure, post-recession economy, outmigration of youth and families, and stretched state and local budgets, are merely a sample of the wide-ranging issues we are confronting. However, in these challenges lies great opportunity. Through effective planning and collaboration, communities can adapt and prepare for the future while still preserving the things that make our Region special. Monadnock Region Future provides information and guidance to anyone with an interest in planning for the future of the Southwest Region. This Regional Plan maps out a vision for the future based on an understanding of the Region’s assets and opportunities, ongoing initiatives and current challenges. It encourages the reader to think broadly about the Region and the factors affecting its success, and presents strategies that can enhance current efforts, as well as promote new and emerging opportunities. While this Plan is advisory in nature, we are hopeful that it will stimulate discussion, action, and possibly, the exploration of new ways of doing community business. In particular, we hope it will serve to promote regional thinking, coordination, and action. In an increasingly connected society and a time of fiscal challenges, it is becoming ever more apparent that the well-being of our communities is tied to the well-being of the Region as a whole.
Download a complete copy of Monadnock Region Future: A Plan for Southwest New Hampshire from the SWRPC website.
Plan components Include:
- Monadnock Region Future: A Plan for Southwest New Hampshire (includes a vision section, review of conditions and trends, telling the story, and an implementation section)
- Southwest New Hampshire Natural Resource Plan
- Southwest New Hampshire Housing Plan (Includes FHEA)
- Southwest Connects: Southwest Region Transportation Plan
- Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for Southwest New Hampshire
- Southwest New Hampshire Regional Broadband Plan
- Scenario Analyses for Regional Planning in Southwest New Hampshire
- Summary of Monadnock Region Future Outreach Efforts
Public Hearing: December 16, 2014
Plan Adopted: January 13, 2015.
For more information on what SWRPC is doing to plan for Monadnock Region Future, please visit http://www.swrpc.org/regionalplan or contact Tara Germond at tgermond@swrpc.org or (603) 357-0557.
Online forum
Click on the green box below to be directed to our Online Map Input Tool. This Forum is an opportunity for you to identify and share your favorite place(s), area(s) that could be improved, important landmarks, etc. on a map of the Region. You are able to provide comments or suggestions about the areas you identify on the map, view the thoughts and ideas shared by others, and agree/disagree with other's comments.
What People Said About the Region
What Is Best About The Area
- “The relatively safe environment in which to raise a family…” – Dublin
- “The history, the scenery, open spaces, and lots of woodlands.” – Peterborough
- “Nice place to live and raise a family.” – Walpole
- “Living and working in my hometown. Community connections are important.” – Keene
- "The camaraderie, people come together when they are needed.” – Antrim
What Could Make It Better
- “Better education and schools for young people” – Antrim
- “Coordination between municipalities for more acknowledgement of interdependency (transportation, water, air)” - Temple
- “Public Transportation” - Peterborough
- “More job opportunities” - Keene
- "More shopping / retail establishments" - Winchester
Event Photos
Photo Above: Community members in downtown Keene share their ideas about what they like best about the Monadnock Region at the Keene Music Festival on September 1, 2012. 
Photo Above: SWRPC's Rebeckah Bullock (right) interviews a Nelson resident at the Town of Nelson Ice Cream Social and Town Band Concert on September 2, 2012.
Downloads
Monadnock Region Future: A Plan for Southwest New Hampshire
Granite State Future Survey, SWRPC and UVLSRPC Oversample Report, Conducted by the UNH Survey Center - July 2013
Regional Community Conversations
May 9, 2013
The Winchester School
85 Parker St., Winchester
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
May 22, 2013
Alstead Town Hall
9 Main St., Alstead
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
May 28, 2013
Antrim Town Hall
66 Main St., Antrim
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
June 6, 2013
Peterborough Town House
1 Grove St., Peterborough
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
