October President's Message

By Paula Reeves, AICP CTP

This fall has been one of the most eventful periods of my term as APA Washington Chapter President. I just returned from the APA Fall Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. where I was honored to represent our state in discussions with my fellow Chapter Presidents from across the U.S. I brought back some new ideas and best practices as we look ahead and plan next year’s projects and budget.

In September, I joined colleagues from Association of Washington Cities, Association of Washington Counties, Ruckelshaus Center, Washington State Department of Commerce, and others testifying at the House Local Government Committee Hearing on review and modernization of Washington’s Growth Management framework. These hearings will continue until the State Legislative Session begins on January 9th, 2017. Watch for updates called “Legislative Education, Advocacy & Direction” or LEAD bulletins in your email or read them on the Chapter’s Legislative Committee website.

We also received the 2016 Chapter election results this month. Please join me in congratulating and welcoming newly elected leaders to the Chapter and Section Boards. A special thanks goes to Steve Butler, FAICP. Steve chaired this year’s Nominations Committee that produced this amazing group of new leaders. See Steve’s Newsletter article in this edition for more details about election results.

October is National Community Planning Month and APA has a number of new resources including a webinar on Community Planning Assistance Teams (CPAT), public service announcements, and tools for engaging kids in planning. In this Newsletter’s article by Patrick Lynch, you can learn more about APA Washington’s CPAT Program and how to join a CPAT Team or host a project in your community. Also in honor of Community Planning Month, APA Washington will be discussing development of a Great Places in Washington Awards Program at our Fall Board Meeting.

In just a few days, I hope to see you all at the Joint APA Washington and Oregon Conference in Portland. We have a number of special guests and speakers including Jim Drinan, Executive Director of APA National. Jim will join us for our Annual Chapter Business Meeting after lunch on the first day of the Conference (October 27th). We hope to hear more from him about the Regional Forum on the Columbia River to be held in Spring 2017.

Lastly, we are reviewing the Chapter’s 2016-2019 Strategic Plan to check our progress and help focus our 2017 budget, and would sincerely appreciate your thoughts and ideas. As always, invite you to drop me a line or call me directly at [email protected] or 360-701-1943.

All the Best – Paula Reeves

Return to the October issue of The Washington Planner