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.