The PA Chapter is pleased that FEMA Region III – headquartered in Philadelphia – is providing our contribution to the free chapters, divisions, and universities webcast series. The National Disaster Recovery Framework and Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery session will be held on December 6th from 1:00 – 2:30 pm. The National Disaster Recovery Framework is a guide that defines how a community can work together following a disaster to best meet recovery needs. This session will discuss the Framework’s core principles as well as best practices and lessons learned from post-disaster recovery plans completed in communities in Pennsylvania. Approval of 1.5 CMs for the session is pending. Registration is via the Utah Chapter of APA website at www.utah-apa.org/webcasts.
Archive for Susan Elks
Planning Ethics in Action
APA has recently started a planning ethics blog: http://blogs.planning.org/
The blog is designed to highlight common ethical traps, provide memorable illustrations, and provide a platform for regular review and discussion of the AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, with particular focus on the Ethics Case of the Year. Discussion of ethics case studies should begin in late November 2013. If you are a member of AICP, the blog should be a periodic stop to revisit ethical issues. If you aren’t AICP, the blog will also touch on APA’s Principles, which are relevant to all citizen and professional planners.
Upcoming Webinars on Best Practices and Wayfinding
ISA Webinar: Best Practices for Planning, Design, and System Management
Thursday, November 14, 2013
2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET
Price: Complimentary for Planners
Presenter: Craig Berger, Craig Berger Consulting; Sapna Budev, International Sign Association; Danny Barnycz, The Barnycz Group
1.0 CM
Complete the registration form here and email to emily.oconnor@signs.org or fax to (703) 836-8353 to register for FREE as a planner.
Webinar Highlights:
- Learn about the advantages of developing a wayfinding program in stages
- Understand when a wayfinding project should fit into one fully integrated system, and when it should include freestanding elements
- Learn about sign alternatives in wayfinding projects
- Understand how cities approach digital and lighting technology
Professional Development Scholarships – Apply Now!
The PA Chapter of APA is pleased to announce two Professional Development Awards: Jerry S Walls, FAICP Planning Professional Development Award and Irving Hard, FAICP Excellence in Planning Professional Development Award. These awards can be used to cover a range of professional development activities, including graduate or undergraduate planning-related classes, in-depth training on planning-related topics such as but not limited to charrettes and mediation, planning-related workshops such as those offered through APA’s Planners Training Service, or other training relevant to the professional development.
- Jerry S. Walls, FAICP Planning Professional Development Award – A scholarship of $2000.00 will be awarded to the Pennsylvania applicant who demonstrates commitment in the field of community planning, involvement in public sector planning, and a desire to enhance their expertise and/or develop new skills.
- Irving Hand, FAICP Excellence in Planning Professional Development Award – One scholarship in the amount of $2,500.00 is awarded annually to an outstanding Pennsylvania applicant who demonstrates excellence in the field of community planning, and a desire to enhance their expertise and/or develop new skills.
Please review application requirements here. The deadline to complete your application is August 30, 2013.
CM Credits Approved for May 22: Land Use Planning Matters: Planning for Disaster Resilient Communities
The PA Chapter of the American Planning Association and the PA Local Government Training Partnership are cosponsoring training on planning for disaster resilient communities. There are six training sessions statewide, kicking off with a session at the new Chester County Public Safety Training Campus on May 22nd.
As natural and man-made events teach us over and over, it’s too risky NOT to consider hazard mitigation and disaster resiliency, especially with hazard mitigation being an essential component of site planning, comprehensive planning, stormwater management and numerous other planning practices. Building resilient communities is not just a product of emergency management and emergency services personnel, but also a responsibility of planners as they assist communities with comprehensive planning and development of and updates to zoning and subdivision and land development ordinances. The session will cover details on creating a hazard mitigation plan as well as review how to incorporate emergency management and emergency services planning in other municipal plans and ordinances. A key concept of the training will be how to ensure that land use and community planners and emergency management personnel/emergency responders are coordinating their efforts.
The training will use Pennsylvania specific case studies and examples to convey relevant information to attendees. The presenters will review tools, resources, and guidance provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency to help you match resources to their challenges. The target audience for this training session includes professional planners and elected officials, municipal staff, emergency management personnel, and citizen planners who are well-versed in planning and seeking advanced information on hazard mitigation planning and emergency management to improve the safety and resiliency of residents and business for current and future hazard risks. There will be ample opportunities for Q&A.
Please see the brochure for details or the PA Chapter website for full details and registration: http://planningpa.org/news/land-use-planning-matters/
May 3: Planning for Livable Communities
The PA Chapter and Temple University School of Environmental Design are pleased to announce Planning for Livable Communities: Incorporating an Aging Perspective. The one day planning institute will be held May 3, 2013 at the Temple Harrisburg campus. The institute will provide planners, policy makers and other stakeholders with the tools to incorporate an aging perspective in community planning, thereby creating livable communities that support people of all ages. Planners will learn to recognize impediments to the aging population and techniques to avoid and minimize these impediments. The event will address transportation, zoning, development standards, parks and recreation, accessibility, and planning ethics. AICP CM credits are pending approval. Over lunch attendees will be able to review the work of three Temple University Planning Studios that spent the 2013 spring semester focusing on community planning for aging in Lebanon and Montgomery counties. Full registration information and agenda: http://www.ambler.temple.edu/news/planning-institute.htm
Field Trip!: APA Prez in Bethesda
Vibrant Streets Learning Lab
April 29 & 30, 2013
Bethesda, MD
6 CMs, $325
You can’t learn about what makes a Vibrant Street work in a conference room. From speaker sessions in the Row’s Arts Theater to walking tours to dining in Bethesda’s restaurants and wine bar, this Learning Lab will send you home with an authentic Vibrant Street experience. More importantly, you will return to your community with an ACTION PLAN you have crafted with our Vibrant Streets specialists.
Attendees will learn from presenters about current Vibrant Streets best practices and the future of Vibrant Streets around the world, land banking for retail redevelopment, creating a pop-up gallery space through the ArtPlace program, creating a temporary retail district, how communities can collect data through an app called LocalData, how existing suburban developments can be redesigned into more urban and more sustainable places, and how a foundation works with a community and the American Sign Museum to create effective and creative district branding.
Mitchell Silver, AICP and current APA President will be one of the instructors for the Learning Lab.
For full details and to register: http://www.vibrantstreets.com/learninglab/
May 22: Land Use Planning Matters: Planning for Disaster Resilient Communities
The PA Chapter of the American Planning Association and the PA Local Government Training Partnership are cosponsoring training on planning for disaster resilient communities. There are six training sessions statewide, kicking off with a session at the new Chester County Public Safety Training Campus on May 22nd.
As natural and man-made events teach us over and over, it’s too risky NOT to consider hazard mitigation and disaster resiliency, especially with hazard mitigation being an essential component of site planning, comprehensive planning, stormwater management and numerous other planning practices. Building resilient communities is not just a product of emergency management and emergency services personnel, but also a responsibility of planners as they assist communities with comprehensive planning and development of and updates to zoning and subdivision and land development ordinances. The session will cover details on creating a hazard mitigation plan as well as review how to incorporate emergency management and emergency services planning in other municipal plans and ordinances. A key concept of the training will be how to ensure that land use and community planners and emergency management personnel/emergency responders are coordinating their efforts.
The training will use Pennsylvania specific case studies and examples to convey relevant information to attendees. The presenters will review tools, resources, and guidance provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency to help you match resources to their challenges. The target audience for this training session includes professional planners and elected officials, municipal staff, emergency management personnel, and citizen planners who are well-versed in planning and seeking advanced information on hazard mitigation planning and emergency management to improve the safety and resiliency of residents and business for current and future hazard risks. There will be ample opportunities for Q&A.
Audubon/Outward Bound Education Center Proposal in Philadelphia – Comments Sought
The Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Commission (PaRC) is inviting public input on a proposal by the National Audubon Society, an international non-profit conservation organization, and Outward Bound Philadelphia, an affiliate of the national Outward Bound organization, to build an educational center for conservation and leadership development on the banks of the East Park Reservoir next to the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. The Audubon/Outward Bound partnership is proposing to develop the 37 acres surrounding a man-made lake that was once part of Philadelphia’s water supply system. The elevated site, which runs along 33rd street in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood, is closed to the public and largely hidden from view by chain link fencing and dense vegetation. Outward Bound Philadelphia is plans to use the new facility as its headquarters, while Audubon expects to establish a hub for research and science-based conservation projects and programs in the Philadelphia region. The facility will be known as the East Park Leadership and Conservation Center. Many entities have voiced their support for the proposal.
In compliance with the Open Lands Protection Ordinance, PaRC is conducting a review of the proposal with opportunity for the public to comment. View the Alternatives Analysis on the Parks and Recreation Department Web page; the link to the full PDF is posted in Announcements. To read and post online comments, Click Here. Those wishing to submit written comments may send them to PaRC via email at: parksandreccommiss@phila.gov . A public hearing on the Audubon/Outward Bound proposal is scheduled for the February 27, 2013 meeting of the Commission to be held at 6:00 p.m. at Mander Recreation Center, 2140 N. 33rd Street.
2013-2014 Academic Year Scholarships from APA-PA
Each year the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association offers scholarships to support individuals in an effort to enhance planning at the local, regional, state, and national levels. The Chapter, and more specifically the Boards of the Pitkin Fund and the Leslie and Greta Spaulding Education Fund Trust, have released their annual application for scholarships. The deadline to apply for the 2013-2014 academic year scholarships is April 30, 2013. Recipients will be announced by June 30, 2013. In order to apply, candidates must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- The Applicant shall be a resident of Pennsylvania, or a student of a Pennsylvania institution, enrolled in a PAB accredited or planning related undergraduate or graduate program in Planning curriculum that has a demonstrated track record of preparing students to become Planners; and
- The Student shall be entering his or her junior or senior year in the fall semester or be enrolled in a graduate program; and
- The Student shall provide evidence of financial need by providing copy of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or its renewal form; and
- The Student shall have demonstrated competent academic skills including a minimum 3.0 GPA as evidenced by transcripts and receive the recommendation of the program chairperson; and
- The Student shall demonstrate an intention to pursue a career in planning as described in an attached essay.
Full details on the scholarships and the application can be found on the PA Chapter’s student scholarships page.
