Paul Goldberg, P.E. has been named Citizen Planner of the Year by the New Hampshire Planners Association. Goldberg has been a professional engineer at Pro Con Inc since 1990 and currently serves on the Bedford Planning Board, where he has been serving as chairman for the last 5 years. The award is granted to an individual who has advanced or promoted the cause of planning in the public arena as members of planning boards or commissions, zoning boards of adjustment, economic development boards or commissions, or other elected or appointed officials. The award recognizes the recipient's time and dedication to understanding planning principles.
Since 1975, Goldberg has actively served on various town boards including the Town of Bedford Planning Board, the Bedford Town Council, the Bedford Zoning Board and the Bedford Sewer Commission. In addition, Goldberg was Bedford's representative to the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission from 1975 - 1983 and helped develop a regional economic development Master Plan. His expertise in civil and structural engineering has helped the Planning Board to consistently craft well reasoned reviews of new residential sub-divisions and commercial site plans. As a town councilor, Goldberg spearheaded efforts to modernize Bedford's infrastructure including road rehabilitation, sewer service, and piped water service. He has also served as a liaison for the design of the new Airport Access Highway across the Merrimack River.
In 1990, Goldberg recommended that an economic development charter be included in Bedford's Master Plan. The work conducted for that plan led Goldberg to propose and develop the State's first performance zone as an innovative land use technique permitted under state law. Bedford's performance zoning was extremely innovative at the time and has been able to exist for 20 years with very little change. Other towns have adopted zoning based on the Bedford model.