Presentations
Lee Einsweiler, Code Studio [video]
Rick Bernhardt, Nashville TN [video]
Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt, Chapel Hill NC[video]
Resources
Form-Based Codes Defined, Form-Based Codes Institute. Read more.
11 Urban Design Tactics for Suburban Retrofitting, June Williamson, Build a Better Burb: The Online Journal of Suburban Design. Read more.
Putting People First: 10 Steps Toward Pedestrian-Friendly Suburbs, Lynn Richards, Land Lines, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, July 1st, 2014. Read more.
How do we De-Suburbanize the Suburbs?, Alissa Walker, Gizmodo, January 21st, 2014. Read more.
Twin Cities suburbs are working on their curb appeal, Shannon Prather, Star Tribune, November 30th, 2013. Read more.
Mesa launches new approach to long-range planning, Gary Nelson, The Republic,, March 10th, 2013. Read more.
Examples of Codes that Support Smart Growth Development, US EPA. Read more.
Smart Growth Tactics, Michigan Association of Planning, Issue # 28. Read more.
The Ephesus Fordham District, Town of Chapel Hill. Read more.
Ephesus Church Road/Fordham Boulevard, Small Area Planning/Traffic Analysis, Town of Chapel Hill, February 18th, 2011. Read more.
CHTC Eyes New Zoning Tool For Ephesus-Fordham Area, Elizabeth Friend, Chapelboro.com, September 12th, 2013. Read more.
CTHC Eyes Ephesus-Fordham Renewal Plan, Elizabeth Friend, Chapelboro.com, January 23rd, 2014. Read more.
Miami 21, Dakota Hendon and Alex Adams, Florida Planning, Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association, December 1st, 2010. Read more.
Nashville values, development rise with form-based code, Rick Bernhardt, Better! Cities and Towns, December 25th, 2011. Read more.
Phoenix’s Walkability Gamble Might Actually Pay Off, Eric Jaffe, The Atlantic Citylab, April 2nd, 2013. Read more.
Buffalo Reboots its Code, Sam Newberg, Congress for the New Urbanism, June 13th, 2014. Read more.
Plan Mixed-Use Infill District, Sarasota County, FL, Dover, Kohl & Partners. Read more.
Cincinnati Wins National Planning Award for Form-Based Code, Jocelyn Gibson, Urbancincy, June 9th, 2014. Read more.
Boone to create Wellness District, Anna Oakes, The Watauga Democrat, July 12th, 2014. Read more.
Speakers
Rick Bernhardt’s practice has focused on creating sustainable communities, neighborhoods and places through the use of traditional planning and design principles. Rick is currently overseeing the development of NashvilleNext, to guide community development for the upcoming 25 years. In his current position, he instituted the Community Character Manual as a template for form-based community planning and the development of a model for integrated land use and transportation planning. He has also led in the adoption of over 30 form-based codes to achieve the community’s vision. A signatory to the Charter of the New Urbanism, Rick directed EDAW’s Town Planning Studio and was Planning and Development Director for the City of Orlando where he developed community–wide master plans, unified land development codes and assisted in the development of the initial version of what became the Smart Code. He served on the board of the Form Based Codes Institute and Chair of the Planners Task Force for the Congress of the New Urbanism.
His work in Orlando with the Southeast Orlando Sector Plan and Baldwin Park resulted in the receipt of the initial Catherine Brown award from the Congress for the New Urbanism. He has also received the Groves Award for outstanding leadership and vision by a public official in the promotion of Transect-based planning given jointly by the Transect Codes Council and the Congress for the New Urbanism. Rick was educated at Auburn University and Ohio State University where he received the Distinguished Alumni Award.
Manny Diaz was first elected City of Miami Mayor in 2001, having never before held elective office. He was reelected to a second term in 2005, and was chosen to lead the United States Conference of Mayors as its president in 2008.
Mayor Diaz developed a vision for Miami as an international City that embodies diversity, economic opportunity, effective customer service and a highly rated quality of life. To achieve this goal, he re-engineered Miami government from top to bottom. During his two-term tenure, Diaz was recognized for completely transforming the City of Miami, and for many nationally recognized innovative programs in the areas of urban design, sustainability and green initiatives, education, infrastructure investment, affordable housing, law enforcement, poverty and homelessness, and arts and culture.
Diaz was recognized as one of America’s Best Leaders by US News and World Report and The Center for Public Leadership (Kennedy School of Government); the Urban Innovator of the Year by the Manhattan Institute; Americans for the Arts-National Award for Local Arts Leadership; American Architectural Foundation Keystone Award; Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce Power Leader of the Year and Green Visionary Awards; the Government Award by Hispanic Magazine; the Business Leader of the Year Award by South Florida CEO Magazine; and was named an Outstanding American by Choice by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service. He is a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council of the US Department of Homeland Security and serves as Vice-Chairman of the Alliance for Digital Equality Board of Directors. He is also a member of the Board of the Bloomberg Family Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Urban Research, the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, City Year Miami, the Florida After School Network, the advisory board for the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Civic Innovation and the Florida Advisory Committee for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. He recently served as a Resident Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics, and has now resumed his successful corporate and real estate law practice as a senior partner at Lydecker Diaz in Miami, Florida.
Lee Einsweiler has been involved in planning, zoning and plan implementation in a variety of settings over the past 30 years. His main emphasis has been on redevelopment activity in urban areas, beginning in south Florida in the 80’s and continuing with his recent work in Los Angeles, Raleigh and Denver. Lee sharpened his skills in the preparation of zoning and subdivision regulations across the country, and has been personally responsible for over 50 code projects, including the complete revision and adoption of over 30 codes. His combination of conventional zoning know-how and new code approaches is rare in the profession, and his ability to discuss new zoning in simple terms serves his clients well.
Lee is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Community & Regional Planning at the University of Texas and a Board member of the Congress for the New Urbanism Central Texas chapter, where he serves as policy committee chair. Lee is a frequent speaker on the issues of smart growth, form-based codes, transit-oriented development and mixed use concepts. He is a proud graduate of the planning program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Mark Kleinschmidt has served on the Chapel Hill Town Council since December 2001. He was proud to be the first Mayor elected through the town’s former publicly financed Voter Owned Elections (VOE) program in 2009. He was reelected in 2011 and was unopposed for reelection in 2013. In 2012 he was named one of the Triangle’s Top 100 most influential business leaders by the Triangle Business Journal. When not engaged in town business, the Mayor works at his law office in downtown Chapel Hill as an attorney for the firm Tin Fulton Walker & Owen. The Mayor has served as President of the North Carolina ACLU and as a Delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. Today, he serves as Vice-Chair of the Durham Chapel Hill Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization, Treasurer of the North Carolina Metropolitan Mayors Coalition, and on the steering committee of the Mayors Innovation Project (MIP). He welcomes MIP mayors and municipal staff to Chapel Hill for their summer meeting.
Presentations
Robert Hickey, Center for Housing Policy [video]
Jay Ash, City Manager, Chelsea MA [video]
Mayor Pro-tem Sally Greene, Chapel Hill NC [video]
Resources
2009 Seattle Housing Levy, City of Seattle, WA, January 1st, 2009. Read more.
Denver’s Making Public Housing Desirable, Governing, July 1st, 2013. Read more.
S.M.A.R.T. Housing Policy Resource Guide, City of Austin, TX,, June 1st, 2008. Read more.
Comprehensive Housing Strategy, City of Boulder, CO. Read more.
Affordable Housing Resolution, City of Minneapolis, MN, January 1st, 2004. Read more.
Affordable Housing Plan, Town of Chapel Hill, NC, June 13th, 2011. Read more.
Affordable Rental Housing Strategy, Town of Chapel Hill, NC. Read more.
Cities at Work: Progressive Local Policies to Rebuild the Middle Class, Center on Wisconsin Strategy, pages 190 – 192, February 1st, 2014. Read more.
Inclusionary Upzoning: Tying Growth to Affordability, Center for Housing Policy, July 1st, 2014. Read more.
Homes for Working Families: Increasing the Availability of Affordable Homes, Center for Housing Policy, January 1st, 2006. Read more.
Policy: Preserve Affordable Rental Homes, Center for Housing Policy. Read more.
Building a Strategy: Creating a Plan, Center for Housing Policy. Read more.
Getting Started: What Can State and Local Governments Do?, Center for Housing Policy. Read more.
Action Suggestions for Local Government Officials to Support Contemporary Affordable Housing, Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California. Read more.
Building Support for Affordable Homeownership and Rental Choices: A Summary of Research Findings on, Janet Viveiros and Rebecca Cohen, Insights, Center for Housing Policy, August 1st, 2013. Read more.
Good Local Housing Policy is Good Economic Development Policy, Lisa Sturtevant, Rooflines, National Housing Institute, May 15th, 2014. Read more.
Speakers
Jay Ash is his native Chelsea’s longest serving CEO, having first been appointed city manager in 2000. His leadership has produced model municipal management and development, including securing credit rating increases and unprecedented economic development for Chelsea. In 2013, for example, Chelsea secured not one, but two credit rating increases, and two significant hotel projects got their go-aheads, among several major developments to receive the same. Chelsea is about to build new park number ten under his community development vision, a major accomplishment for the state’s smallest city geographically. This past year, Chelsea’s crime rate dropped 25% as a result of new initiatives Ash piloted. Outside of Chelsea, Jay has led statewide initiatives on health insurance, youth violence, transportation and expanded gaming in Massachusetts. Most recently, his advocacy for economic development tools for older urban communities has contributed to legislation adopted in both branches of the Massachusetts Legislature.
Before working directly for the City, Jay served his community from the State House as the staff director to the House Majority Leader. Jay’s affiliations include past president of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the regional planning agency responsible for 101 communities in Greater Boston; board member of MassINC, a public policy think tank, and elected trustee of his alma mater, Clark University. Most recently, he has taken on leadership of the Gateway Cities Institute, which advocates for working cities in the commonwealth, and he is co-founder and vice-chair of the Metropolitan Mayors Coalition, even though, as he reminds people, he isn’t even a mayor! This past year, Ash led delegations that have won the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Working Cities Challenge competition and the National Civic League’s All-America City Award. Chelsea has won the latter twice under Ash’s direction. Through the Working Cities Challenge, Ash and the community collaborators with whom he is proud to partner are seeking to utilize an innovative, data-driven model to promote prosperity, quality of life and social capital gains in Chelsea’s most impoverish neighborhood. Among his numerous recognitions, the Boston Business Journal named Jay one of Boston’s 40 most promising up-and-coming businesspeople under the age of 40, although that was admittedly a few years ago (1999)!
Sally Greene, Chapel Hill mayor pro tem, is serving her third term on the Town Council. A native of Gilmer, Texas, Sally moved to Chapel Hill in 1987 after a career as a corporate attorney in Washington, D.C. She holds a J.D. from George Washington University and a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From 1998 to 2003 she worked as a lawyer for the Raleigh firm Fuller, Becton, Slifkin and Bell. Upon her election to the Council in 2003, she continued to work independently as an appellate brief writer in civil cases. She has held adjunct and administrative positions in the School of Law and the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill, including the position of associate director of UNC’s Center for the Study of the American South. During her first two terms on the Council, Sally was instrumental in the creation of the Town’s inclusionary zoning ordinance, sparked a community conversation on homelessness that resulted in a countywide partnership, helped create the Town’s first neighborhood conservation districts, and advocated for environmental stewardship, working to place 92 acres under permanent conservation easement. Other accomplishments include serving on the negotiating committee for the 140 W. Franklin development and helping to negotiate a strengthened agreement with Orange County on funding the public library.
Robert Hickey is a senior research associate at the Center for Housing Policy in Washington, DC. His work involves research and analysis on a range of state and local housing policies approached from a national perspective. In early 2014, Robert completed comparative, comprehensive portraits of the housing strategies undertaken in Seattle, Dallas, Denver, and Cuyahoga County as part of a multi-year study tracking the impact of affordable housing on child success in school. He has written extensively about inclusionary housing polices, authored research on strategies for sustaining mixed-income communities near transit, and consulted on tools and approaches for developing affordable housing properties with broad community buy-in. His most recent publication is Inclusionary Upzoning: Tying Growth to Affordability (July 2014).
Before the Center for Housing Policy, Robert worked as a planning and economic consultant at Strategic Economics, where he wrote extensively on policy and planning strategies for creating affordable homes in transit-oriented communities for clients such as the Enterprise Foundation and San Francisco Foundation. He also served as program manager with the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California, and Policy Director at Urban Ecology. Robert completed a master’s degree in city and regional planning from the University of California – Berkeley in 2003.
Presentations
Resources
The Pitfalls & Corresponding Best Practices of Online Civic Engagement: A Case Study in Salt Lake Ci, Peak Democracy, May 20th, 2014. Read more.
Preliminary Qualitative Data on the Green Grand Rapids Civic Engagement Process, Kathy Quick, Memo to Suzanne Schulz, November 12th, 2009. Read more.
Outcomes of Participatory Zoning in Grand Rapids, Martha S. Feldman and Kathryn S. Quick, UC-Irvine, August 1st, 2007. Read more.
Tackling Wicked Problems Takes Resident Engagement, Mike Huggins and Cheryl Hilvert,, PM Magazine, International City/County Management Association, Vol. 95, #7, August 1st, 2013. Read more.
Five Tips for Effective Community Engagement, International City/County Management Association, June 9th, 2014. Read more.
Ensuring Local Budget Choices are Understood, Mary Bunting, Champions of Change Blog, September 27th, 2012. Read more.
All-America City Awards, A Program of National Civic League, January 1st, 2014. Read more.
Beyond Citizen Engagement: Involving the Public in Co-Delivering Government Services, P. K. Kannan and Ai-Mei Chang, IBM Center for the Business of Government, January 1st, 2013. Read more.
Engaging the Unengaged: Developing a Community Engagement Strategy, International City/County Management Association, July 7th, 2014. Read more.
Planning for Stronger Democracy, Matt Leighninger and Bonnie C. Mann, National League of Cities. Read more.
Making Public Participation Legal, Working Group for Legal Frameworks for Public Participation, October 1st, 2013. Read more.
Engaging the Connected Citizen, Center for Digital Government, January 1st, 2013. Read more.
Brights Spots in Community Engagement, Christopher Hoene, Christopher Kingsley and Matthew Leighninger, National League of Cities, April 1st, 2013. Read more.
Speakers
Mary Bunting became the first female city manager in 2009 for the City of Hampton since the position was created in 1956. She followed in the footsteps of her mother, who was city manager of Roanoke, Va., for many years and also enjoyed an illustrious career in public service. Bunting began her career with the City of Hampton as an assistant to the city manager in January of 1990. In January 1995 she was promoted to assistant city manager. Highlights of her career include the creation of the award-winning 3-1-1 Customer Call Center, consolidation of three separate permit functions into a Central Permit Office, development of Hampton’s Crime and Grime campaign, organization of innovative neighborhood initiatives, including the creation of the Neighborhood Office, and coordination of the city’s emergency planning and response efforts for Hurricane Isabel and Tropical Storm Ernesto. Because of these initiatives, Hampton was recently named an All-America City for the third time. In 2012, she was named a White House Local Innovation Champion of Change. Bunting has a master’s degree in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and a bachelor of arts degree from Johns Hopkins University. She and her husband Mark have three children: Parker, Carter, and Hannah.
Suzanne Schulz, AICP, is the Managing Director of Design, Development and Community Engagement for the City of Grand Rapids. Suzanne oversees the Planning Department, Development Center, Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals and Historic Preservation Commission. She is the State Chair of the Complete Streets Advisory Council, Board member of the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan, Co-Chair for Michigan ICSC, Advisory Council Member of Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Redevelopment Ready Communities Program, and a Charter Member of Smart Growth America’s Local Leaders Council. She served as project manager for Grand Rapids’ Smart Growth-based Master Plan, Green Grand Rapids Plan, Form-Based Zoning Ordinance and Michigan Street Corridor Plan – a HUD Sustainable Communities Challenge Grant project. Current work includes implementation of the City’s Vital Streets program and development of the Grand River Corridor Plan, an effort to restore the city’s namesake rapids as part of the Federal Urban Waters Partnership program.
Faith Thompson started her career in local government in 1994 at the City of Fayetteville as a 9-1-1 operator. She is currently one of two Ombuds for the Town of Chapel Hill. The Ombuds Office was established to offer other remedies of redress in conflictual situations. Prior to her service with Chapel Hill, Faith has served at the School of Government as an Assistant Dean of Development, the City of Fayetteville as Assistant to the Manager for Customer Focus and Interim Human Relations Director, and the United States Army as a Military Police Officer. Faith has a BA in government from Mills College in Oakland California and a MPA from UNC @ Chapel Hill.
Presentations
Resources
The Rise of Innovation Districts: A New Geography Of Innovation In America, Bruce Katz and Julie Wagner, Brookings Institute. Read more.
Supporting Entrepreneurs and Small Business: A Tool Kit for Local Leaders, J. Katie McConnell, Christiana McFarland, and Brett Common, Center for Research and Innovation, National League of Cities. Read more.
Employment and Business Ownership, An Immigrant Integration Brief, National League of Cities, October 31st, 2008. Read more.
How San Francisco Put Entrepreneurship in City Government, Jason Schueh, Governing, July 31st, 2014. Read more.
Providing Support Services to Strengthen Your Small Businesses, Karen Vasquez, Christiana McFarland and Katie Seeger, National League of Cities, September 21st, 2009. Read more.
Cities Facilitate Small Business Exports to Build Local Economy, Christiana McFarland and James Brooks, National League of Cities, October 9th, 2009. Read more.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Local Entrepreneurship Promotion, Entrepreneurship Policy Digest, Kauffman Foundation, March 24th, 2014. Read more.
Asheville’s Efforts to Support and Attract Entrepreneurs, National League of Cities. Read more.
Small Business Growth: U.S. Local Policy Implications, Christiana McFarland, J. Katie McConnell and Caitlin Geary, Research Brief on America’s Cities, National League of Cities, October 1st, 2011. Read more.
Speakers
Roger L. Stancil was appointed Town Manager in September, 2006. During his tenure, he has stewarded organizational change within the Town, including improving Town processes while not negatively affecting the outcomes, streamlining basic services of the Town and strategically align them with Council goals and priorities, developing an excellent Town staff into a successful multicultural team using facilitative leadership and learning skills, organizing around key Council and community focus areas: communications, sustainability, community policing and improved parks, recreation and public arts, continuing to understand and respond effectively to those
priority areas through “listening sessions” with various groups of residents and employees, and building a renewed working relationship between the staffs of the Town and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Successful recent ventures include the downsizing of Halloween to a safer home-grown event, unanimous adoption by the Town Council and the UNC Board of Trustees of a Development Agreement to guide the development of Carolina North and a successful budget for 2009-10 that maintained Town services without negatively affecting employees in a difficult economic time. Roger previously served the City of Fayetteville as city manager from 1997 to 2006. While there he managed growth of the City of Fayetteville from a population of 70,000 to 180,000, facilitated
the redevelopment of the downtown, coordinated relationships with Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base and developed a successful multicultural learning organization. Roger earned a B.A. degree in Politics from Wake Forest University in 1971 and a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1982. A native of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, he enjoys spending time with his wife of 27 years, Carol, and their son Stephen and daughter Amanda.
Ted Zoller oversees the teaching and outreach programs of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at UNC Kenan-Flagler. His research focuses on the role and structure of entrepreneurial networks and the interrelationships with investor syndicates. He has posited a “dealmakers’ algorithm” to identify the most important actors in entrepreneurial ecosystems. He is an adviser to the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, and work with them to scale the Blackstone
Entrepreneurs Network, an entrepreneurship networking project based on his research.His teaching focuses on new enterprise development, business models and early-stage venturing with a focus on developing entrepreneurial leaders and teams. He is the founding instructor of “Launching the Venture,” which has increased the number of companies to spin-off from UNC to lead national benchmarks. Dr. Zoller oversees Launch Chapel Hill, a new venture lab that supports UNC teams that are moving to the marketplace. He is a senior adviser to the Frank Hawkins Kenan
Institute of Private Enterprise, and a senior fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where he previously served as a vice president. He serves as the primary liaison for UNC Kenan- Flagler to the Research Triangle entrepreneurial community.
He collaborates with leading venture accelerators in Europe, including the Accelerace program at the Symbion Research Park in Denmark. He has taught and consulted with numerous entrepreneurial ventures, and is an active, practicing entrepreneur. He founded CommonWeal Ventures, a venture advisory and analytics firm, and is a small business owner.
He serves on the boards of Idea Fund Partners, Rex Health Ventures, Southeast TechInventures, the executive committee of Council of Entrepreneurial Development, and the national board of the Specialist People Foundation. Dr. Zoller is a former associate dean, high-tech entrepreneur and American Management Systems, Inc. principal. He was founding director of economic development at the College of William & Mary, where he developed Jefferson Park, an advanced technology research park. He received his PhD from UNC, master’s degrees from the University of Virginia and Syracuse University, and a dual bachelor’s degree from the College of William & Mary.
