Overview
Welcome to the Town of Newmarket’s Master Plan webpage!
In 2023, the Newmarket Planning Department began working with the Strafford Regional Planning Commission and a Master Plan Subcommittee to update the entire Master Plan. While several chapters have been updated over the past couple of years, the whole plan has not been updated since 2001. The planning process engaged the community in creating a vision and actionable strategies for achieving that vision over the next 10 years.
The Master Plan includes the following chapters: Vision; Housing; Land and Water Conservation; Recreation; Arts, Culture, and Historic Resources; Community Facilities and Utilities; Economic Development; Energy; Downtown Riverfront Design; Existing and Future Land Use; Transportation; Implementation. The Planning Board adopted the full Master Plan on August 11, 2026.
Click on a images on this page to see the chapter, or go to the Downloads page to access PDFs.
Master Plan Themes
The 2025 Master Plan’s approach is to explore each chapter’s subject matter from five different perspectives to ensure that the community is evolving in a holistic manner. These five guiding themes emerged from the public engagement process and are designed to act as touchstones to help the community achieve its goals. Below are the themes and corresponding definitions.
- Vibrancy: A vibrant community is one that exudes energy and is full of activity and life. It is welcoming and friendly to all ages, supports cultural diversity, provides economic opportunities.
- Connectivity: A connected community has efficient and safe links to daily needs such as between home, jobs, shopping, school, services, parks and open space, and provides welcoming and inclusive public places for social interaction.
- Accessibility: An accessible community has an environment that is meaningful and usable for as many people as possible.
- Affordability: An affordable community is where people can live comfortably without financial difficulty.
- Resiliency: A resilient community can withstand, recover or adjust to adversity or change.
Each section below provides insights from data trends, key findings from community engagement, and sets forth goals and action objectives to help the community achieve its vision for the future.
Energy
Arts, Culture, and Historic Resources
Land and Water Conservation
Downtown Riverfront Design
Recreation
Community Facilities and Utilities
Economic Development
Implementation Plan
Credits
Many people have contributed to this Master Plan update. Thank you to everyone who has participated!
Strafford Regional Planning Commission (SRPC) Staff: Autumn Scott, Jackson Rand, Kerrie Diers, Lisa Murphy, Jen Czysz, Kyle Pimental, Colin Lentz, Natalie Gemma, Rachel Dewey, Mark Davie, Mike Polizzotti
Town of Newmarket Staff: Lyndsay Butler, Steve Fournier, Sean Greig, Rick Malasky, Greg Jordan, Karen Bloom, Bart McDonough, Bridgette Grotheer , David Evans
Current and former Planning Board Members: Zachary Shollar, Jane Ford, Val Shelton, Scott Blackstone, Michael Scully, Eric Botterman, Bill Arcieri, Michal Zahorik, Abigail Bachman, Jamie Bruton, Patrick Reynolds, Timothy Rossignol, Justin Glazebrook
Town of Newmarket Master Plan Subcommittee and Working Groups: Cait Guarubo, Casey Fontaine, Kat Roedell, Barbra Hall, Michael Queen, Caitlyn Ferreti, Michael Provost, Karen Schuster, Diana Fainberg, Lisa Nicholson, Amy Hammershoy, Shawn McGowan
Town of Newmarket Conservation Commission: Ellen Snyder, Julianna Tyson, Melissa Sharples, David Bell, Jeffery Goldknopf, Tom Jones, Cris Blackstone, Jessica Cann, Colin Lawson
Town of Newmarket Arts, Culture and Tourism Committee: Debra Smith, Pam Myers-Morgan, Morgan Santos, Ben Buckley, Doug Spicher, Suki Casanave, Ben Reeder, Shannon Culpepper, Ed Hicks
Town of Newmarket Energy and Environment Committee: Ellen Read, Roberta Branca, Alex Rentumis, Scott MacGrath
Town of Newmarket Riverfront Advisory Committee: Sam Kenny, Dale Pike, Ingrid Ahlberg, Betsy Wolfe, Joe LaMattina
Town of Newmarket Public Transportation Advisory Committee: Sönke Dornblut, Mike Hoffman, Madeleine Faust, Austin Johnson