APA WA Allied Professions: Housing People in Transportation-Efficient Communities

Session 2C | Wednesday | 4:15 – 5:30 PM (PT)

About the Session

Housing is a critical land use and transportation issue in every community within Washington. The Growth Management Act (GMA) requires each city and county to adopt comprehensive plans with land use, transportation, and housing elements that are internally consistent and demonstrate how the city or county proposes to house population growth planned over a 20-year period. From a growth management standpoint, Transportation-Efficient Communities are the most cost-effective way to house people, contain urban sprawl, promote active transportation and public health, and diversify the community. From an implementation standpoint, this can only be accomplished with adequate funding, community advocacy support, and most importantly, elected leaders who have the political courage to allow and support change within existing neighborhoods and on existing transportation corridors. Speakers: Michelle Pappas, Futurewise; Brian Jennings, Spokane Transit Authority; Dave Anderson, WA Department of Commerce. Moderator: Chris Comeau, Allied Professions Liaison for APA WA.

About the Moderator

Chris Comeau, FAICP-CTP

Transpo Group, Inc.

Chris Comeau, FAICP-CTP has over 30 years of transportation and land use planning experience and has worked all over Washington, as well as in Alaska and Arizona. Chris has also served the APA Washington Board of Directors as Secretary, President of the Northwest Section, as a representative to APA national's Transportation Planning Division, and he currently serves as APA Washington's "Allied Professions Liaison." Chris organized this panel session to allow planners to hear the perspective of professionals who are involved in and advocating for change as cities and counties across Washington update their comprehensive plans.

About the Speakers

Dave Andersen, AICP

Washington Department of Commerce

Dave Andersen was appointed to lead the Department of Commerce's Growth Management Program in 2019. He has been with the Department of Commerce since 2001, starting as the agency's transportation policy specialist. In 2022, Dave was awarded the Governor's Outstanding Leadership Award by Governor Inslee. Dave is an adjunct lecturer in the Urban and Regional Planning program at Eastern Washington University and is a past president of the Inland Empire section of the American Planning Association. He was recognized in 2010 with the American Planning Association of Washington's Meyer Wolfe Award for Professional Achievement for his work managing the review and update of the agency's administrative rules implementing the GMA. Prior to joining Commerce, he spent seven years as a transportation planner at Pierce Transit in Tacoma. Dave holds a master's degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Iowa, and a bachelor's in planning from Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He grew up in Sioux City, Iowa.

Brian Jennings

Advocate

Spokane Transit Authority

Mr. Jennings has a varied background in building, planning, community, and economic development, and now transit. His role at the Spokane Transit Authority is focused on growing the economic and development impact of the community's investment in high-performance transit by focusing on Transit-Oriented Development. For the past seven years, he worked for the Spokane Housing Authority where he was responsible for ensuring the Authority's production activities resulted in the successful development of affordable housing. He was responsible for planning, coordinating, and managing a pipeline of multi-family projects working collaboratively with a broad range of stakeholders, partners, advisory groups, funders, and clients to further the Authority's development goals. Prior to SHA, he was the Vice President of Production and Spokane Operations for Community Frameworks, a non-profit affordable housing developer in Washington State. Long before moving to the development side of the counter, he was the Community Development Director for the City of Cheney, Washington, where he managed the Planning, Building, Code Enforcement, and Historic Preservation functions.

Michelle Pappas, Advocate

Futurewise

Michelle Pappas is a land-use and disability rights activist who fights for inclusion and systemic change in housing, transportation, and prioritizing racial equity. She is the Spokane Program Manager for Futurewise, a Washington state land policy nonprofit. Futurewise recognizes that land use is the intersection of housing, transportation, food security, access to healthcare, and education. Futurewise also acknowledges that these livable communities we strive to create must be created through racial equity. Michelle has experienced homelessness both as a child and a parent, as well as she also has the experience of being a landlord and a small business owner. She uses lived and professional experience, to educate the housing community on the needs of the disability community.

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