Ms. Durfee formed EF | Design & Planning, LLC in the Seacoast Region of New Hampshire with the objective of providing communities with support, resources, and tools to plan for the present and future. The firm specializes in community and environmental planning and in integrating creative elements and visual tools into projects, public spaces, and outreach efforts.
Ms. Durfee provides contract town planning services and technical assistance, facilitation, and project management services for multiple nonprofits in New Hampshire. She also contributes to local and international water resource and climate adaptation projects with the firm AECOM. Ms. Durfee serves on the Conservation Commission in Newington, NH and also participates on the American Planning Associations Water Education Planning Committee. Examples of relevant project experience are summarized below:
• Ms. Durfee is currently in the final stages of completing a comprehensive update of the City of Saco, ME’s Zoning Ordinance, Subdivision Regulations, and Site Plan Review Regulations. This project involve considerable public outreach, analysis of the City’s Comprehensive Plan, mapping, and engagement with City staff.
• Ms. Durfee collaborated with a Master Plan Committee and multiple commissions to prepare chapters of the Town of Durham, NH’s Master Plan, which was awarded Plan of the Year by the New Hampshire Planners Association in 2016. Her Master Plan work involve GIS-based build out analyses and considerable public outreach/education.
• In 2015, Ms. Durfee co-lead a multi-day visioning forum as part of the development of the Town of Newmarket, NH’s Vision Chapter for its Master Plan. The public outreach effort for this chapter included an online survey, presentation of existing conditions and trends, interactive small group discussions, live polling, and facilitated discussion of opportunities and visions for the town in several functional planning areas.
• Ms. Durfee has employed tools including the Oregon Model for Visioning and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analyses, surveys, small group round- tables, interactive mapping exercises, and live polling to gather input.
• She prepared the existing land use chapter and a GIS-based build-out analysis for the Town of Barrington’s Master Plan update.
• She played an integral role in creating Strafford Regional Planning Commission (SRPC)’s Regional Master Plan, including research, writing, mapping, preparing executive summaries, developing an implementation table, and graphic design.
• Ms. Durfee engaged the Farmington (NH) Planning Board in a review of the Town’s progress in implementing goals and objectives from their 2005 Master Plan in preparation for an update of the Town’s Master Plan.
• In 2011-2013, she developed and implemented an extensive study of the value of working waterfronts and waterfront land use. She prepared 11 case studies on unique waterfronts throughout the state of Michigan. As part of this project, she identified tools municipalities were using to create sustainable waterfronts, and compiled and analyzed demographic, economic, and land use data. As part of this multi-year project she conducted Smart Growth Readiness Assessment Tool Workshops and presented on placemaking.
• As a town planner, she regularly engages with Planning Boards to update and amend local regulations and to ensure that proposed development aligns with the local land use plan. She has implemented zoning updates that involve collaboration with subcommittees, conducting an extensive review of existing regulations, communicating changes to the public, preparing factsheets to assist municipal staff with implementing and enforcing new regulations, and guiding towns through the process of adopting new zoning regulations.
• In 2017, she guided and prepared the strategic planning process for the Acton Wakefield Watersheds Alliance, an organization with a service area in New Hampshire and Maine. Ms. Durfee employed the SWOT analysis to facilitate a constructive brainstorming session.
• As a consultant to the Moose Mountains Regional Greenways land trust and preparer of a local Natural Resources Assessment, Ms. Durfee has considerable familiarity with experience with mapping and evaluating natural resource areas and determining areas that should be protected from development.
• She assisted with the development of the Massachusetts State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan and prepared the Hazard Mitigation Plans for multiple municipalities.• She is currently contracted to assist the coastal community of Hampton, NH with evaluating flood impacts and initiating long term coastal adaptation planning. After finalizing a ‘situation assessment’, she helped develop a local Coastal Hazards and Adaptation Team, which meets monthly to provide guidance to the Town and residents on adaptation.
Ms. Durfee is experienced with using Adobe Creative Suite, SketchUp, and ArcMap GIS software to great visuals and maps. She also has experience creating and maintaining websites using programs including Wix and Adobe Muse, posting blogs, implementing online surveys, and using social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn).
Ms. Durfee has dual Master’s Degrees in Urban & Regional Planning (Physical Planning & Design) and Natural Resources & Environment (Sustainable Systems) from the University of Michigan (2011). She has a Bachelor of Science Degree (Environmental Conservation) from the University of New Hampshire (2006). She is a certified planner with the American Planning Association.