Expertise: Special Projects Manager, City of Loveland, Retired
Throughout my 50-year professional career as an environmental planner, I’ve worked for city, county and regional governments in the United States and New Zealand. My commitment has been to persuade decision-makers to acknowledge the importance of preserving the natural environment.
From 1971 to 1990, I worked for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA), a bi-state agency comprising California and Nevada. Its primary responsibility was to regulate all development activities within the Lake Tahoe watershed, with the overarching objective of safeguarding and enhancing the water quality of Lake Tahoe. TRPA regulations hold precedence over all local authorities, including four counties and one city, in the approval of all development proposals. As Chief of the Development Review Division and later as Principle Planner in the Long Range Planning Division, I had a significant role in achieving the goals of the TRPA.
For the next five years, I served as the Comprehensive Plan Administrator for Pima County, Arizona. During this time, I spearheaded an extensive stakeholder outreach effort to develop a new Comprehensive Plan for the county. The primary objective of the plan was to curb the expansion of urban development around Tucson and safeguard the unique environment of the Sonoran Desert. The Comprehensive Plan was unanimously adopted in 1995.
In 1995, I had the opportunity of relocating to New Zealand. At that time, New Zealand had recently enacted a new natural resources management act that emphasized and reinforced its “clean and green” policies. As the Manager of the development Review Section at Waitakere City, I witnessed a nationwide commitment from decision-makers and Kiwis alike to prioritize the remarkable natural environment of New Zealand.
In 1997, I joined the City of Loveland, Colorado, and spent 22 years in the Development Services Department. During my tenure, I held the positions of Current Planning Manager for 10 years and Director of the Development Service Department for another 10 years. In my final two years as Special Project Manager, I led a comprehensive stakeholder outreach initiative to develop a Unified Development Code. This new code consolidated the subdivision, zoning, and annexation codes and updated development standards to align with the latest trends in urban development. The Planning Commission unanimously recommended its approval, which was subsequently approved by the City Council in 2021.