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Hurricane Harvey Needs Survey Results
In the aftermath of a major disaster, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that community recovery continues long after the initial demands for food and shelter are met. Because the APA’s members are on the ground, working to keep our cities running every day, we wanted to understand the experience of community planners and other officials working toward Harvey Recovery, and ways for the Texas Chapter to support recovery efforts.
To date, 500 surveys have been distributed to APA members and participants at disaster recovery events, with an approximate response rate of 10% from communities across the affected regions.
Take the survey!
See preliminary results!
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APA News from NPC18 in New Orleans
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The 2018 National Planning Conference in New Orleans offered APA leadership an opportunity to share progress with Chapters and Divisions on ongoing initiatives and unveil plans for new programs, as well. Here are a few updates and what’s on the horizon.
• APA’s student and new member program offering free and reduced memberships has resulted in increasing membership for the organization. As part of this program, Division membership has skyrocketed, in some cases doubling or even tripling in size. The full impact has yet to be felt; while no commitment or timeline was proposed, the Divisions Council Chair shared his future goal of making division membership free to all APA members.
• Since the launch of the AICP Candidate Program in November, more than 600 applications have been received along with a lot of positive feedback from participants.
• APA will be launching a new education platform for members only called APA Learn this summer. The online platform will provide continuing education about planning and will automatically track AICP CM credits for certified planners. According to Executive Director Jim Drinan, this will be a game-changing member benefit and will also impact the ways Chapters and Sections plan conferences and deliver education to their members.
• APA Learn is part of APA’s blueprint for education, a five-year plan developed to ensure that there is content for planners at all stages of their careers, as well as citizen planners and allied professionals. The potential for “micro-credentialing” was discussed, where planners could access a suite of educational offerings that, once completed, would be recognized to show expertise in a topic area.
• Expect to hear and learn a lot more about the topic of housing as APA ramps up its campaign to address the national housing crisis through detailed policies, tools and resources around this subject. To set the stage, APA’s Board of Directors adopted a set of Housing Principles this spring that are available on APA’s website.
(as summarized by APA-Ohio)
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May Planner Profile: Jeff Fisher, AICP
Name: Jeff Fisher, AICP
Title: Senior Planner
Agency: City of San Angelo
Time at current location: 4 years
Education: Bachelor of Environmental Studies, Planning (BES, Pl.), University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada)
Why did you get into Planning? Wanted to serve my community and enjoy land use/zoning/city planning
What is your proudest accomplishment? Contributing to our APA Texas Great Places proposal in which our City was one of the winners (San Angelo RiverWalk)
What is your dream project? To create an amazing new urban space in Downtown San Angelo. (And to do any planning review on a future ice hockey arena, if we ever get a team back in San Angelo)
Picture: Jeff Fisher paints edging on a home during the 6th annual Neighborhood Blitz in San Angelo
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APA Louisiana Conference Call for Sessions
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APALA will be holding its annual conference in Shreveport in October. The Chapter has asked for assistance in sessions from surrounding chapters including APATX! The call for session topics is due June 22nd! Click here to submit a session proposal!
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Texas A&M Grad Tristan Lanza featured by APA
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The National APA recently featured Tristan Lanza's journey to Belize City and his work with the Yarbrough Community Planning Assistance Team (CPAT)! The article also gave Texas A&M's Texas Target Communities and the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center some much needed national attention!
Read the article here!
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Dr. Shannon Van Zandt, AICP Named Program Chair at Texas A&M University
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On March 22, 2018, Dr. Shannon Van Zandt was formally announced as the new Head of LAUP at Texas A&M. Dr. Van Zandt has served as the Interim Head since Fall 2016. According to a press release, the Department received 25 applications and shortlisted to a pool of six. Dr. Van Zandt will assume her new position on September 1st, 2018.
Dr. Shannon Van Zandt joined the faculty of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning (LAUP) in the College of Architecture (CARC) at Texas A&M University (TAMU) in 2005 as an assistant professor, and subsequently, in 2011, she was granted tenure and promoted to the rank of Associate Professor. Subsequently, in 2016, she was promoted to the rank of Full Professor. She currently holds the Nicole and Kevin Youngblood Professorship in Residential Land Development. Dr. Van Zandt earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from CARC at TAMU, graduating with a Bachelor of Environmental Design (summa cum laude) from the Department of Architecture (ARCH) in 1993, and with a Master of Urban Planning from LAUP 1997. Subsequently, in 2004, she received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Department of City & Regional Planning University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
NC.
View the press release here
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Stay engaged and win!
Be sure to stay engaged with your fellow Texas planners and watch out for opportunities to earn entries into monthly drawings for a gift card!
Log your eligible actions here! The list of eligible actions per month will be updated on the first of the month and shared frequently throughout the month on the Chapter's social media platforms!
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November AICP Registration Opens June 1st!
The November 2018 Registration will open June 1st! Apply by June 7th for the Early Bird Registration!
APATX has many resources to help you prepare for the AICP exam. Stay tuned for information regarding workshops and exam scholarships!
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AJ Fawver, AICP hired as Planning Director for City of Lubbock
Mike Bell, AICP promoted to Lead Planner for City of Plano
Ken Schmidt, AICP promoted to Lead Planner for City of Plano
Ross Altobelli, AICP promoted to Lead Planner for City of Plano
Helen-Eve Liebman, AICP hired has Director of Planning and Development for City of Corinth
Raha Pouladi hired as a planner for City of Celina
Dan Tracy, PE with the City of Richardson was promoted to Assistant Director of Development Services
Chris Shacklett, AICP with the City of Richardson was promoted to Development Review Manager
Send us your news about promotions, appointments, awards, etc. so we can share it with the rest of APATX
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