Newsletter End of 2013
LAND LINES Promised Lands Officers Anthony Palermo, AICP Chair VACANT Vice Chair Jacqueline Genson, AICP Secretary Jason Green, AICP Treasurer Alexis Crespo, AICP Immediate Past Chair Joseph D. Irvin, AICP Professional Development Officer Professional Development/Events Standing Committee Fred Reischl, AICP Jennifer Pellechio Josh Overmyer, CFM
Thank you for celebrating with us at the Promised Lands Annual Meeting & Holiday Social at Bahama Breeze in Fort Myers. A very nice tradition continues. With help from the Calusa Section Florida Planning and Zoning Association, we collected money and made a $126 cash donation to the Harry Chapin Food Bank of SW Florida. Thank you to FPZA and Tina Ekblad, AICP, for co-sponsoring this celebration once again. Congratulations are due to the Roland Eastwood Planner of the Year Julia B. Davis, AICP. She was a fantastic choice for this honor, and was thrilled with the recognition at the holiday social. Julia is the President of Omnibus Innovations Group, Inc. of Cape Coral and is a consultant on transportation disadvantaged programs and transit planning. She is also the unofficial leader of Reconnecting Lee, an advocacy group for good planning and professional development programming in Lee County. Julia recently retired from Florida Department of Transportation's District One office in Fort Myers. She has a distinguished career in planning - including service at the SW Florida Regional Planning Council and Lee Tran. This event also gave us a chance to recognize our immediate past Chair Alexis Crespo, AICP and thank her for her years of service to the Section and to her fellow planners.
We were also sad to say good-bye to Roxanne Reed, our Section's Vice Chair, who is headed to Tallahassee with her family. Charlotte County and the Promised Lands Section will miss her presence greatly. She was a great VP and we wish Legislative Committee Kathleen Oppenheimer Berkey, Esq., her all our best. AICP
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APA FLORIDA ANNUAL SPONSORS Theriaque & Spain
Our Section - stretching from DeSoto, Glades, Charlotte, Lee, Collier, and Hendry - is 177 persons strong. In 2013 we gained a few new members, after a few rough years of bleeding membership. New members are always welcome to join us, or rejoin us. Plans are underway for our APA State Conference in Jacksonville in September 2014. Kathie Ebaugh, AICP, from our Lee County Planning Division is leading the way again as our state's Vice President of Conference Services. Personally I'm looking forward to attending the APA Florida Executive Committee retreat in the Pensacola area in February, even though it is over the hills and (very) far away. The retreat will also give Kathie and me a chance to attend the APA Public Policy Workshop - a short drive away in Tallahassee February 4-5, 2014.Check out the APA Florida website for more information about that.
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I'm sure a few of you are also making plans to go to the APA National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia April 26-30, 2014. Please let us know if you plan on attending or making a presentation about planning here in SW Florida. Closer to home, we could use all the help we can get putting together an ambitious list of professional development and social programs in 2014. See more below. And we also have a vacancy for Vice Chair of the Section. Please contact me or any of our board members for further information. Thank you to our Promised Lands members. It's an honor to serve. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you. Tony Palermo, AICP Chair, Promised Lands
Thanks to our HEXes Special thanks to Donna Marie Collins, Lee County's Chief Hearing Examiner, and to Mark Strain, Collier County's Hearing Examiner, for being our lunch speakers in Fort Myers and Naples. Thanks again to Alexis Crespo, AICP for organizing these events with our two newest Hearing Examiners. Both events are eligible for AICP/CM credits. LID for Lunch Thank you for the incredible efforts of Ann Pierce and Julia Davis, AICP for putting together one of the most successful Promised Lands events of 2013. Over 70 attended "LID in Transportation and Urban Infill & Redevelopment" November 7 at the Regional Planning Council in Fort Myers. Part of the Reconnecting Lee series of events, this lunch featured presentations from Molly Williams, PE of Sarasota County Public Works and Stephen Suau, PE of Progressive Water Resources of Sarasota. It was a very interesting event, and our local members learned a lot about low impact development (LID) principles at work on Honore Avenue in Sarasota and Dearborn Street in Englewood. This event was also approved for AICP/CM credits. Should We Stay or Should We Go? The 23rd Annual Southwest Florida Water Resources Conference "Sea Level Rise: Fight or Flight" is scheduled for 8:00 am - 5:30 pm on Friday, January 31, 2014 at Florida Gulf Coast University, Cohen Center Ballroom. This event is brought to you by the Florida Section of the American Water Resources Association. The Southwest Florida Water Resources Conference focuses on climate change and its effects on ecosystem services. As our climate is changing, what effects will there be on our infrastructure, food and water production and areas of habitation? Lunch is included as part of the conference and there will be a mixer after hours to follow. AICP/CM credits pending approval. Additional information is available
at www.awra.caloosahatchee.org/2014 Three from Reconnecting Lee Reconnecting Lee, a group that advocates for new urbanist concepts including transit-oriented design for Lee County's emerging urban core, is putting together three programs (at least) in 2014. First - "Trauma's Regional Connection" is set for Thursday January 16, 2014 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm at the DCD Hendry Street Building, 1825 Hendry Street, nd 2 Floor, Fort Myers. The featured presenter is Syndi Bultman R.N., M.S., CEN. Syndi is the Chairperson of the Lee County Injury Prevention Coalition of Lee Memorial Health System. This program will include what trauma centers are and how the Lee County Injury Prevention Coalition and trauma centers work together with various organizations to help improve the quality of life to our residents and visitors. The program will focus on the role health planning and injury prevention play in complete streets, urban design and growth in the SW Florida region. It's free and AICP/CM credits were approved. Second - Carmen T. Monroy, Southwest Area Office Direct for the Florida Department of Transportation District One office is the confirmed speaker for the February 20 meeting of Reconnecting Lee, from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. This event will be at the Southwest Interagency Facility for Transportation, the SWIFT Sunguide Center, at 10041 Daniels Parkway, Fort Myers - and will include a tour of this regional transportation management facility. AICP/CM credits pending approval.
Third - The "Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012" will be the topic for the next Reconnecting Lee meeting March 20 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Location to be determined. Amy Hoyt, GISP Lee County's GIS expert, Josh Overmyer, CFM, the Town of Fort Myers Beach's Floodplain Administrator and Chris Heidrick,CPCU, ANFI, CFP owner of Heidrick & Co. Insurance on Sanibel, are scheduled presenters. The speakers will address different aspects of the Biggert-Waters Act, the potential impacts on flood insurance availability, changes in cost of policy premiums, and impacts on planning and land use in SW Florida. AICP/CM credits pending approval. For more information about Reconnecting Lee or any of these programs contact Julia B. Davis, AICP, # 239-560-2114 orJBDavis1AICP@aol.com Land Use Symposium - May 2014 The Promised Lands and a host of other partners are planning something big for May 2014. A Symposium on Land Use With a Special Emphasis on the Role of Planning and Zoning Commissions: a.k.a. "Everything you Wanted to Know About Florida Planning (But Were Afraid to Ask)" will be of great benefit to those old and new to the local planning process in SW Florida. We are putting together a stellar whole-day seminar featuring the best and the brightest in planning and zoning. Time and date are pending. Be on the lookout for further announcements. Free AICP credits American Planning Association Utah Chapter: http://www.utah-apa.org/webcasts American Planning Association:
http://www.planning.org/cm/free/ 1000 Friends of Florida. http://www.1000friendsofflorida.org/communications/webinars/ Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida. http://www.cutr.usf.edu/category/digital-content/ AICP Exam Dates MAY 2014 EXAM The exam application window is now open. Early Bird Application Deadline: December 19, 2013 Final Application Deadline: January 23, 2014 Early Bird Notification Deadline: January 31, 2014 Final Notification Deadline: April 11, 2014 Testing Window: May 12-27, 2014
If you know of other AICP/CM resources, have ideas for future professional development programming, or want to help us in the future please contact Joseph Irving at 239-383-3990 or e-mail him here.