The easiest way to register for the APA Texas Chapter Planning Conference and Short Course is to use the on-line registration at http://www.txplanning.org/register/.  Register now to receive Early Registration savings. Regular Registration on-line will start on September 1, 2014. Regular on-line registration will end on October 2nd. After that date, registration will be available on-site at the conference in Frisco.

Ten tracks of program sessions will include a diverse range of topics and speakers.  The conference track topics include:

• Culturally Inclusive Planning
• Mobility, Resiliency
• Placemaking
• Sustainability and Activism
• Shifting Trends
• Law and Ethics
• A special track will be offered for Emerging Planning Leaders

A total of 103.75 hours of AICP Certification Maintenance (CM) credits have been requested for approval by AICP, including law and ethics training credits. The APA Texas Chapter conference offers AICP members the opportunity to earn up to 12.45 CM credits in a two-day period.

Two special pre-conference workshops will be offered on Wednesday afternoon, October 15th.  Emerging Planning Leaders are invited to attend the first annual Leadership Forum, intended to guide young planners in their career development.  Planners preparing to take the AICP Exam can attend the AICP Exam Preparation Workshop, taught by Jennifer Evans Cowley, FAICP, the widely acclaimed trainer and head of the graduate planning program at The Ohio State University. 

The Planning Commissioner’s Short Course includes two tracks of sessions, one oriented to newly-appointed planning officials, and a second tract of advanced session topics for experienced board members.  Now in its 43rd year, the Short Course is the best training program available for Texas planning officials.

Mobile workshops will provide opportunity to get out to explore and see firsthand some of the major planning and development projects occurring in the North and Downtown Dallas areas.  Mobile workshops will also qualify for AICP Certification Maintenance credit.

Learn more and register for the conference here.

August 12th is the deadline for submitting Planning Award Nominations for this year. For the first time, the awards nominations will be made entirely in digital format.  A new awards category is being introduced this year:  the Planning Legend Award – Given by the Chapter Executive Committee and the Chapter Historian to a practicing or retired planner who has made a significant impact on Texas planning.  

Award recipients will be recognized at the Friday Awards Luncheon during the APA Texas Chapter Conference in Frisco.  Further information about the Planning Awards program, including nomination forms and rules, is available on the APA Texas Chapter website.

Plan to arrive at the APA-Texas Chapter Conference early to join APA leaders in the Inaugural Texas Leadership Forum! The Texas Leadership Forum will host a series of state and national leaders who will speak on their roles in planning and why they became involved with APA.

National APA speakers will discuss how to boost effectiveness as a leader and present the unique challenges of public sector leadership.  Attendees will learn about the characteristics and approaches of successful local government leaders. 

Attendees will also have the opportunity to engage with guest speakers and network with other professionals from across the state. CM credits have been submitted for this Forum. If interested in attending, please RSVP to Doug McDonald at dougm@plano.gov by October 2, 2014. Click here for more details.

Mobile workshops will offer highly interesting tours of growth and development in rapidly developing North Texas.  North and downtown Dallas is a showcase for quality development and suburban growth opportunities and challenges. Frisco, Plano, Allen and other north Dallas communities are growing at annual rates that place them in the top two digit fastest growing areas in the nation.  McKinney is recognized as one of the best cities in the country to live, raise a family and start a business. Plano and Richardson are nationally recognized models for successful transit-oriented development (TOD).  Downtown Dallas has developed a world class arts and cultural center, while working to develop a vibrant and coherent downtown that is a walkable 24-hour center. The adjacent Midtown district has emerged as the center for young professionals and for older residents desiring a downtown location.  The new Clyde Warren Park, built over the top of a depressed freeway, is garnering worldwide recognition for public-private development of a downtown park and green space. Learn more about the Mobile Workshops here.

10/15, 3 - 6pm George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum

10/16, 7:45 - 11:45am Downtown Dallas Revitalization

10/16, 2 -  5:45pm Integrated Stormwater Management in Dallas

10/16, 2 - 5:30pm Richardson and Plano Transit Oriented Development

10/17, 8:30 - 11:45 am  Economic Development with Historic Resources in McKinney

10/17, 2 - 5:30pm Tradition vs. New Urbanism in McKinney

The Opening Plenary Session will include introductory remarks by Chapter President Wendy Shabay, AICP, and conference Co-Chairs Brooks Wilson, AICP and Lee Battle, AICP.  Frisco Mayor Maher Maso will welcome the conference to the City of Frisco. Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price will be the Plenary Session speaker.

Plenary Session:  Blue Zones – the Fort Worth Experience

In 2004, researcher Dan Buettner teamed up with National Geographic and the world’s best longevity researchers to identify pockets around the world where people lived measurably better and longer. In these “Blue Zones” they found that people reach age 100 at rates 10 times greater than in the United States. After the publication of Mr. Buettner’s book, The Blue Zones, which became a New York Times best-seller, the Blue Zones concept has been promoted on TV, the web and even incorporated into former President Bill Clinton’s Health Matters Initiative.  The media success prompted a new challenge: could Blue Zones be built in the US? This plenary session will inform participants about Blue Zones, the Power 9 concepts, and how to initiate this powerful system in your municipality.

Thursday Short Course Luncheon Keynote Address:  Leigh Gallagher -- The End of Suburbs

“The government in the past created one American Dream at the expense of almost all others: the dream of a house, a lawn, a picket fence, two children, and a car. But there is no single American Dream anymore.”  For nearly 70 years, the suburbs were as American as apple pie.  As the middle class ballooned and single-family homes and cars became more affordable, Americans flocked to pre-fabricated communities in the suburbs, a place where open air and solitude offered a retreat from our dense, polluted cities.

Speaking about her book, The End of the Suburb, journalist Leigh Gallagher will trace the rise and fall of American suburbia from the stately railroad suburbs that sprung up outside American cities in the 19th and early 20th centuries to current-day sprawling exurbs where residents spend as much as four hours each day commuting.

Click here for more details.