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Climate Action Planning and Effective Strategies Across Washington StateSession 4B | Thursday | 10:45 AM – 12:00 PM (PT)
This session will provide an overview of climate action planning in the state and effective strategies. A representative from the Department of Commerce will describe the creation of the Commerce Model Climate Element guidebook with a focus on high-performing mitigation and resilience strategies (Menu of Measures) and how they were developed with an interagency group and consultants. Speakers from communities on the west and east sides of the state with different resources and conditions will share their efforts to plan for greenhouse gas emission reductions or climate resilience, including the benefits and hurdles. They will provide guidance on what is working and what hasn’t in their communities to date. Environmental planning consultants will be on hand to help moderate the panel and share notes from the field and key messages for communities of all sizes.
 Lisa Grueter, AICPBERK Consulting
Lisa Grueter, AICP is a Principal at BERK Consulting, Inc. and leads the firm’s land use planning practice. She has more than thirty five years of experience in policy planning for the public and private sectors. She is an expert environmental and land use planner developing comprehensive, subarea shoreline, parks, and stewardship plans, and customized programmatic and planned action environmental impact statements. She helped test the model climate resilience element guidebook for the Department of Commerce and has been working with multiple communities to incorporate climate strategies and policies in their Comprehensive Plans. Lisa has worked with counties and cities across Washington State and spent seven years as a senior planner for the cities of Sumner and Renton. She received a B.A. in Social Ecology from the University of California, Irvine and a Master of City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley.
Nicole Gutierrez
Cascadia Consulting Group
Nicole Gutierrez is a Climate and Sustainability Associate with Cascadia Consulting Group. In her role, she leads sustainability, climate mitigation, climate resiliency, and natural resource planning projects for a variety of clients. Nicole supports stakeholder-driven planning efforts to identify what success looks like for a range of projects, working with clients and partners to identify strategies and action steps to get a project successfully completed in an efficient and impactful way. Nicole holds a BS in Conservation Biology and brings experience from her previous position managing diverse and complex water resource projects where she engaged with stakeholders and investigated solutions related to water quantity issues in Washington state.
 Sarah Fox, AICPWashington Department of Commerce Sarah Fox is the Climate Program Manager for the Growth Management Services unit at the Washington State Department of Commerce. Sarah is leading the development of planning guidance for counties and cities to address climate change. Sarah has expertise in policy development, current development review, and long-range planning that she gained from 18 years as a local agency planner. She earned a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University and is a certified planner (AICP). She is currently serving as a Council Member for the City of Vancouver and is a U.S. Army veteran. RJ Lott, AICP
Certified Public Manager
City of Pullman RJ Lott is the Community Development Director of the City of Pullman, but spent the majority of his 20 years in land use planning with Benton County. He has experience in a wide range of planning fields including both short and long range planning, project management, grant writing, and working with consultants, among others. He has two Bachelor’s degrees, one in Urban Planning, from the University of Utah and another in Business Management. He also has a Master’s degree in Public Administration, and designation as a Certified Public Manager both from Arizona State University. He is an AICP-certified planner. In his free time, he enjoys travel, comedy, distance running, golf, college football and following commercial aircraft and airports. Five years ago, RJ got married in Bali, Indonesia, and gained two wonderful stepdaughters, Charli and Randi, and has a fantastic German Shepherd/Lab mix dog, named Molly.
Rebecca Small City of Vancouver Rebecca Small is a Senior Policy Analyst at the City of Vancouver where she leads the implementation of the Climate Action Framework - the City's blueprint to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 and build resiliency to the impacts of climate change. She earned her Master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University and has over 10 years of experience working with local governments on climate action, housing, transportation, and long-range planning. She also holds a degree in Geology and worked for 10 years in environmental remediation, hydrology, and climate research.
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