Manchester Town Planner Sue Brown, in her office last week, has served Manchester for eight years. She leaves this week to head up to the town of West Newbury, where she will serve in the same role.
After eight years as Manchester’s Town Planner, Sue Brown is off to serve in the same role for the town of West Newbury, prompting many in Manchester to offer best wishes for a consummate professional who leaves an unmistakable imprint.
In her tenure, Brown has been a supportive presence behind many of Manchester’s most important initiatives, including the Master Plan, recovery and rehabilitation of the 500-acre Western Woods project, open space preservation, affordable housing and the Planning Board’s recodification of the Zoning Bylaw.
When she arrived in 2014, Brown was Manchester’s very first Town Planner. It’s a role that didn’t really exist 20 years ago, but is now a critical part of many state municipalities, requiring a unique blend of skills and expertise from land use, environmental protection, public space design, open space and recreation use to economic development, and housing.
Planning Board Chair Ron Mastrogiacomo, whose board has worked closely with Brown on important initiatives such as recodification of the town bylaw, thanked Brown for her service.
“Sue is a skilled professional and easy to work with, she helped me through many process questions and the myriad topics the Board has been going thru,” he said. “I wish her the best of luck going forward.”
Greg Federspiel, Manchester Town Administrator, said she will be sorely missed.
“A knowledgeable professional, Sue has helped the community in many ways including the crafting of a new Master Plan, writing a new and updated housing production plan, helping to establish and staff the Affordable Housing Trust and working on an innovative approach with the Housing Authority (HA) and the Trust to potentially upgrade and expand the HA’s units,” he said.
John Feuerbach, chair of the Manchester Affordable Housing Trust, agreed. From the MAHT’s inception, he said, Brown coordinated Trust member trainings, mapped out the town vacant land inventory to help the AHT understand possible new development opportunities, reached out to and established meetings with rental property owners so that the AHT could discuss community affordable housing, provided constant contact and insight from her talks with the Commonwealth’s Department of Housing Community Development, and was a reliable liaison to many Town Boards and committees.
“There was also so much day-to-day work and support that she provided the Affordable Housing Trust,” said Feuerbach. “Sue has been a conscientious helper to the AHT and we thank her for everything she has done.”
In this capacity, she spearheaded the development of a housing needs assessment and housing production plan, a comprehensive master plan, a complete streets plan, the development of the Western Woods Preservation Initiative, and a zoning bylaw recodification and update. She has also supported much of the work of the Manchester Downtown Improvement Committee (DIP), which is currently working on a considerable project to extend the beautification of the retail district.
"Sue has been a steady partner in town hall, working with our volunteers to connect municipal government with the needs and concerns of downtown businesses, nonprofits, and residents," said Steve Carhart, chair of the Manchester DIP. "Many of her efforts such as the Master Plan and Rapid Recovery program will benefit all of us long after her departure."
Brown’s last day was Thursday, October 20. Federspiel said the town is looking for her replacement, even though that will be a tough task.
