Pursuant to the authority granted in RSA 36:45
through 36:53, the City hereby joins with the Town of Hudson and other
municipalities in the Nashua metropolitan area in the establishment
of a Regional Planning Commission.
The Regional Planning Commission shall consist
of two representatives from member municipalities with a population
less than 10,000, three representatives from member municipalities
with a population between 10,000 and 25,000, and four representatives
from Nashua. Nashua representatives shall be nominated by the Planning
Board and appointed by the Board of Aldermen.
The term of each Nashua representative appointed
to the Regional Planning Commission shall be four years. All Nashua
representatives shall serve without compensation and at least one
representative shall be a member of the Planning Board. Alternate
representatives may also be appointed in the same manner as for regular
members.
Nashua representatives of the Regional Planning
Commission may be removed by the Board of Aldermen for inefficiency,
neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.
Vacancies in representation on the Regional
Planning Commission, occurring other than through the expiration of
term, shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term in the
same manner as original appointments.
The Regional Planning Commission shall elect
annually from among its members a Chairman, Vice Chairman and such
other officers as it deems necessary. Meetings shall be held at the
call of the Chairman and at such other times as the Commission may
determine. The Commission shall adopt bylaws for the conduct of its
business and shall keep a public record of its resolutions, transactions,
findings and determinations and shall forward a copy of the minutes
of its meetings to the local Planning Board of each member municipality.
The Regional Planning Commission may accept
and receive funds, grants and services from federal, state and municipal
governments and their agencies or from private and civic sources.
The Commission shall determine, on a reasonable and equitable basis,
the proportion of its costs to be borne respectively by each member
municipality. Failure on the part of any member municipality to pay
its proportionate share of the costs of the Commission shall constitute
a termination of such municipality's membership on the Commission.
Within the amounts so appropriated to it or with other funds placed
at its disposal, the Commission may engage employees and professional
consultants, may use such funds in conjunction with other public or
private funds available, and may obtain such goods and services as
are necessary to it in carrying out its proper functions.
The Regional Planning Commission's powers shall
be advisory, and shall generally pertain to the development of the
region within its jurisdiction as a whole. Nothing in this article
shall be deemed to reduce or limit any of the powers, duties or obligations
of the City's Planning Board. The area of jurisdiction of the Regional
Planning Commission shall include the areas of the municipality within
the delineated planning region. It shall be the duty of the Regional
Planning Commission to prepare a comprehensive Master Plan for the
development of the region within its jurisdiction, including the Commission's
recommendations, among other things, for the use of land within the
region; for the general location, extent, type of use, and character
of highways, major streets, intersections, parking lots, railroads,
aircraft landing areas, waterways and bridges, and other means of
transportation, communication, and other purposes; for the development,
extent, and general location of parks, playgrounds, shorefront developments,
parkways, and other public reservations and recreation areas; for
the location, type, and character of public buildings, schools, community
centers, and other public property; and for the improvement, redevelopment,
rehabilitation, or conservation of residential, business, industrial
and other areas; including the development of programs for the modernization
and coordination of buildings, housing, zoning and subdivision regulations
of the City and their enforcement on a coordinated and unified basis.
The Regional Planning Commission may authorize its employees or consultants
to render assistance on local planning problems to any municipality
or county which is not a member of the Regional Planning Commission.
The cost of such assistance shall be paid entirely by the municipality
or county to which the service is rendered or partly by such municipality
or county and partly by any gift, grant, or contribution which may
be available for such work or by combination thereof. Such Commission
shall keep a strict account of the cost of such assistance and shall
provide such municipality or county with an itemized statement.