In the spring and summer of 2020, some NH communities developed Covid-safe plans to expand outdoor dining opportunities in order to support local businesses and repurpose public and privately-owned spaces. Ensuring that options were accessible to all customers was an additional challenge.

During this virtual roundtable, experts in planning, community and economic development will discuss:

• The challenges their communities faced when adapting to Covid-safe outdoor dining;
• The specific community and planning ideas used to create Covid-safe outdoor dining options;
• Solutions for providing accessible dining options for all community members and visitors. 

This webinar includes lessons learned from three NH communities which stepped up to the challenge. 

1.25 credits approved from          and   

Thank you to these generous Plan NH sponsors!

Register Now! Please Note: Due to the webinar platform, you need to register yourself only and follow further instructions to get the link. The link is specific to each individual registrant. 

Presenters

Coates is the Town Administrator and economic development staff person for the Town of Bristol. Prior to that, he was an active transportation advocate and planner. Coates also sits on the Plan NH Board, is the Chair of the Grafton County Broadband Committee and is on the Town of Campton Climate Adaptation Committee.

Sarah Marchant, AICP, Community Development Division Director, City of Nashua

 In this position, Marchant is responsible for the budget and leadership of the Community Development Division which consists of six departments including Building Safety, Code Enforcement, Planning and Zoning, Waterways, Transportation, Urban Programs, and various commissions, boards and programs.  

Marchant was elected President of the Northern New England Chapter of the American Planning Association (NNECAPA) representing NH, VT and ME, in the fall of 2015 and serves on the National APA Policy and Advocacy Committee. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the New Hampshire Planners Association (NHPA), after serving as President from 2010-2014 and in 2019 was appointed to the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority Board of Directors. She holds a BA from the University of New Hampshire and an MA from the University of Connecticut.

Anne Weidman, Director of Community Engagement, JSA Design and JSA’s nonprofit entity Access Navigators. 

In the summer of 2020, the Portsmouth Design Professionals Alliance became the pro-bono design arm for the City of Portsmouth as they developed plans for Covid-safe outdoor dining. These dining areas sprung up overnight with speedy installation and low-cost materials as top priorities. Once the dining was in place, the real omission became apparent: accessibility. Access Navigators took to the streets providing nudges to restaurants that were sometimes within inches of compliance, kept the city aware of accessibility needs, and wrote widely-shared social media reviews driving business to those restaurants with good accessible outdoor dining spaces. Moving forward, in 2021, Access Navigators is helping the city continue to be thoughtful about outdoor accessibility.