Assistant Planner, Community Development
Omaha Metropolitan Area Planning Agency
In 2006 I joined the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA) as an assistant community development planner. We provided consulting services to cities and counties in the region. MAPA had contracts with a number of municipalities and counties to develop Pre-Disaster Hazard Mitigation Plans, funded through the then new Department of Homeland Security, and I was able to step in on a short-term basis prior to returning to graduate school to help them finish a number of projects on their docket.
Comprehensive Plan, Zoning Ordinance, and Subdivision Regulations
The City of Neola, IA was watching its neighbors of Interstate 80 on the outskirts of Omaha grow and attract development, and wanted in on the game. So they asked MAPA for assistance in updating their planning documents. I led the project, organizing visioning sessions, stakeholder meetings, and public hearings for City of Neola’s Comprehensive Plan update and adoption of new zoning and subdivision regulations. I developed all deliverables and conducted background research, including historical, demographic, environmental, socioeconomic, and financial.
Client
City of Neola, IA
Year
March - July 2006
Pre-Disaster Hazard Mitigation Planning
The creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003 meant that massive amounts of federal funding was available for municipalities and counties to prepare for natural disasters, terrorists attacks, and other threats. In order to be eligible for this funding, however, local governments needed to adopt a Pre-Disaster Hazard Mitigation Plan and go through the process of identifying potential hazards, critical infrastructure, and gaps in evacuation and service provision, for example. As a planner with MAPA, along with my team, I worked with a number of small towns and counties with their first PDM plans, resulting in the release of millions of dollars of federal funding and the enabling communities like Treynor to construct a community center that doubles as a EMS/Fire Station, and evacuation shelter.
Clients
City of Treynor, IA (Project Lead)
City of Malvern, IA (Project Lead)
City of Underwood, IA
Year
March-July 2006
Environmental Assessments
The first step in any project involving government money or land is an Environmental Assessment. An EA can determine whether or not a more rigorous EIS must be done, and whether or not any mitigation is potentially needed to deal with impacts to everything from endangered species to wetlands to communities of color - my first experience in Environmental Justice would come here at MAPA consulting with Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, SHPOs, and conducting socioeconomic and demographic analysis. While at MAPA I assisted my colleague, Jake Hansen, with EA’s he already had in progress on a Cargill Soybean intermodal port facility on the Missouri River at Blair, and an Oriental Trading Company warehouse in Sarpy County, NE. I would also take the lead on the City of Walnut, IA Water Treatment Plant Environmental Assessment. Each project required site visits to determine if critical habitat for endangered species like Indiana Bat and Bald Eagle would be impacted, as well as checking for the presence of hydric soils and hydric plants to determine potential wetland impacts, and consulting with the National Wetlands Inventory database.
Clients
City of Walnut, IA (Project Lead)
Cargill, USA
Oriental Trading Company
Year
February - August 2006
Urban Renewal Plans
Urban Renewal Plans help enable private development of public infrastructure, commonly known as Tax-Increment Financing. One of the projects that led me to MAPA was Hickory Ridge - a subdivision in Glenwood, IA. While working as the Planning and Zoning Director and overseeing the plat approval process, I requisitioned MAPA’s services to conduct an Annexation Study and URP for Hickory Ridge to enable the extension of municipal water and sewer to the new housing area. The relationship I developed with MAPA bloomed into an actual job, and I finished up the final stages of Hickory RIdge’s URP while at MAPA. I would also develop a URP for Woodfield Subdivision in Mills County, IA, and worked closely with both developers Oak Ranch Development and Jim Hughes Real Estate, to come up with plans that would fit the environmentally-sensitive Loess Hills Region. In the case of Hickory Ridge, Jim Hughes committed to making over 30% of the development accessible to Low-to-Moderate-Income families (defined as families making less than 80% of the area median income), protecting steep slopes and mature forests through covenants, and adding a community pool. Woodfield features numerous sustainability-minded and low-impact development elements, notably an integrated stormwater system that preserved an existing fishing pond, stands of native oak trees, and provides hiking trails and natural amenities for the residents.
Clients
Mills County, Glenwood Municipal Utilities, City of Glenwood, Oak Ranch Development, Jim Hughes Real Estate
Year
2005-2006
Carter Lake Watershed RFP
The City of Carter Lake, IA has an interesting history and unique position as being a political exclave of the state of Iowa, and a unique example of fluvial geomorphology influencing property and legislation! A flood on the Missouri River in 1877 re-routed the channel, leaving the town that would later become Carter Lake stranded in Nebraska, and no longer on the river, but now surrounded by a newly formed eponymuous oxbow. The lake, now surrounded by city and golf courses and airport and highways, was increasingly eutrophic, and experiencing large algae blooms each summer. The City of Carter Lake asked MAPA to conduct an RFP to find an engineering firm that could come up with solutions. I sat down with Carter Lake officials on several occasions to craft a proposal that would suite their needs, and to help the vet the various firms. Prior to this experience I had worked a number of RFP’s for municipal buildings in Glenwood, IA, including jails, police stations, and schools. Crafting an RFP is a vital, an often overlooked step in the planning process. Communication between the firm you choose to design and build your project is vital, especially in the planning phases, and can result in massive efficiencies later down the line.
Client
City of Carter Lake, IA
Year
May-August 2006