ROCHESTER — While city officials decided not to enter an agreement with federal planning program, the Strafford Regional Planning Commission intends to use a slice of a $3.37 million grant to update its plan for the area's future.

About 85 area residents filled council chambers Tuesday night to voice their concerns about the program to city councilors — specifically how individual property rights could be threatened by external interests.

Afterwards, councilors voted 8-4 against a resolution authorizing the city manager to sign an agreement with Granite State Futures — the local portion of the Federal Sustainable Communities Initiative, a partnership among the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Department of Transportation (DOT).

State Rep. Sam Cataldo of Farmington, who is one of the representatives in Strafford District 3 and is running for Senate District 6, was one of the area residents who spoke in Rochester Tuesday.

He said many residents are concerned about losing local control of property and resources through the global “sustainable development” policies in United Nations Agenda 21, which began in 1992.

More than 178 nations adopted Agenda 21 — the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development — and the Statement of principles for the Sustainable Management of Forests during the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, according to the website for the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs' Division for Sustainable Development.

Cataldo believes that programs like Granite State Futures are nested in a global effort to inventory and control property. He added it's all about taking away local property rights.

“Once you get hooked, you can't back out,” Cataldo said, adding what happens in Rochester affects the surrounding communities.

SRPC Executive Director Cynthia Copland said she will have to look into how or whether Rochester's decision affects the process.

“The project will continue,” Copland said, adding that each regional planning commission is required to obtain a certain percentage of agreements from communities within their area.

Copland said the six communities of Barrington, Dover, Durham, Newmarket, Somersworth and Strafford entered agreements with the Granite State Futures program.

“That was all we needed,” Copland said, adding she regrets Rochester's decision, but SRPC will continue to work with local leaders.

SRPC includes all 13 communities in Strafford County plus Brookfield and Wakefield in Carroll County and Newmarket, Northwood and Nottingham in Rockingham County.

It is one of nine regional planning commissions throughout the state that plan to use the federal grant to help update their regional plans, which is required by state law, in a coordinated effort, according to Kerrie Diers, executive director of the Nashua Regional Planning Commission.

Diers, who also serves as the administrator for the federal grant, said there are some residents who are concerned about how the EPA, HUD and DOT, which are providing the grant, will dictate what the state must do.

“They are not really interested in telling New Hampshire what to do,” Diers said, adding the regional planning commissions will each receive $300,000 to determine what residents and the communities feel is important and how to protect those assets.

“Whether you're for or against it, you need to participate,” Diers said, adding there will be numerous public sessions during an 18-month period, which will help shape the advisory plan.

“It's up to the communities and the advisory documents are just that,” Diers said.

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For more information, visit the Strafford Regional Planning Commission's website at www.strafford.org/ or visit the Nashua Regional Planning Commission's website at www.granitestatefuture.org/.

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John Quinn may be reached at jquinn@newstote.com.