General | APA - PA Southeast Section

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Call for Volunteers! Future City Competition

December 12, 2023 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

The Philadelphia Region is now celebrating its 29th year of the Future City competition.

This coming year, the competition will be returning to Archbishop Carroll High School and will be held on January 20, 2024.

The theme of this year’s competition is Electrify Your Future. The students’ challenge is to design a 100% electrically powered city with energy generated from sources that keep their citizens and the environment healthy and safe.

We need one person from our membership to evaluate the teams for the APA PA SE special award. If you are interested, please contact John Federico (john.federico@wsp.com) and then sign up at www.futurecityphilly.org.

Category: General, Upcoming Events /

Congratulations to Incoming Council Members!

December 12, 2023 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

We have received the results of our Southeast Section council 2024-25 term election and are excited to announce our new council members!

John Federico – Chair
Pattie Guttenplan – Vice-Chair
Matt Edmond – Secretary
Rick Collier – Treasurer
Alexis Williams – Immediate Past Section Chair
Matt Popek – At Large Member
Nicole Hostettler – At Large Member
Sue Myerov – At Large Member
Danielle Baer — At Large Member
Rachel Pastan – At Large Member / Citizen Planner
Terry Robinson – At Large Member / Citizen Planner

Category: General /

DVRPC Visioning Survey

November 9, 2023 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

Vision Update for 2050

See DVRPC’s website for the full announcement!

Join the Conversation. Shape Tomorrow.

What are your vision and goals for the region? It’s been several years since the Long-Range Plan for Greater Philadelphia was adopted. The Plan sets the Vision and goals for the region, strategies to achieve them, and allocates $67 billion in state and federal transportation funds through the year 2050. Per federal requirement, we’re updating it again, and need your help to do it!

Your Vision for 2050

The existing vision, generated through broad public engagement during the last Plan update, is an EQUITABLE, RESILIENT, and SUSTAINABLE Greater Philadelphia Region that:

– Preserves and restores the natural ENVIRONMENT.
– Develops inclusive, healthy, and walkable COMMUNITIES.
– Grows an innovative and connected ECONOMY with broadly shared prosperity.
– Maintains a safe, multimodal TRANSPORTATION network that serves everyone.

What do you like about the current vision statement? What would you add, remove, or change? Weigh in on a new ENERGY & CLIMATE focus area! DVRPC invites you to participate in a survey to shape the Vision for 2050 for the next iteration of the Long-Range Plan for Greater Philadelphia.

Take the Survey!

If you live, work, or play in Greater Philadelphia, we want to hear from you! Whether you have 5 minutes or more than 10 minutes to spare, your input matters in guiding investments and shaping the future for the region. Qualified participants who successfully complete a survey will have the opportunity to enter into a giveaway for one of 20 gift cards, valued at $50 each. Visit the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to see full giveaway rules.

Take the survey today!

Category: General /

Voting now open!

August 16, 2023 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

The 2023 election cycle is underway!

If you are a Pennsylvania Chapter voting member, please be on the look out for an email from APA‘s third party vendor. If you are a part of the Southeast Section and a voting member, you will receive an additional email. Please see message below from APA:

APA has partnered with Survey & Ballot Systems (SBS) to administer the 2023 APA Consolidated Election. To ensure your election specific broadcast email arrives safely in your inbox on August 10, 2023, simply add the following email address as an approved sender: noreply@directvote.net.

If you haven’t received your email please check your spam/junk folder. After searching your mailbox and you still haven’t found your email, please let us know and we can put in a ticket requesting your email.

August 10	Ballots available online, reminders emailed to all chapter/division members.
Late-August	Email reminders sent to those members who have not yet voted.
Early-September	Email reminders sent to those members who have not yet voted.
September 8	Firm deadline for receipt of ballots from membership.
September 14	Survey Ballot Systems certifies election results and prepares report to National for dissemination.
January 1, 2024	Newly elected leaders take office.

Category: General /

Application Due Sep. 8: Chester County’s Vision Partnership Program

August 9, 2023 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

Chester County’s Vision Partnership Program

The Vision Partnership Program (VPP) provides funding to Chester County municipalities and multi-municipal groups who are seeking to improve their planning programs through various types of projects. Projects include revised municipal plans, ordinances, and planning studies that address opportunities and issues of community concern – and all projects must achieve consistency with the county’s comprehensive plan, Landscapes3.

Chester County is currently accepting applications for Vision Partnership Program, with approximately $215,000 available. Applications are due by September 8.

Recently projects completed with funding assistance by the Vision Partnership Program include the Avondale Borough Comprehensive Plan, Pennsbury Township Subdivision and Land Development Update, and the Plum Run Corridor Master Plan (East Bradford Township). A list of cash grant awards can be found here: https://www.chescoplanning.org/municorner/vpp-awards.cfm

To learn more about the Vision Partnership Program, visit https://www.chescoplanning.org/MuniCorner/Vpp-Cash.cfm.

Category: General /

Sept. 6 – Webinar Wednesday: Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas in the Susquehanna River Basin

August 6, 2023 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

September 6 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas in the Susquehanna River Basin

Groundwater recharge is the primary means of ensuring water is available in aquifers for water supply and as base flow to streams. Different geologic materials, structures, and land uses all influence the rate in which water can recharge underlying aquifers. This study incorporated factors influencing recharge through standardization and weighting-assignments using the MCDA-GIS framework to identify land-surface areas that provide a large fraction of recharge. Results from the tool will aid in planning, developing and/or prioritizing preservation, restoration, or enhancement projects. Protecting and enhancing Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas, will assist with drought resiliency, improving water quality, and preserving water supply for future use.

CM credit is pending approval. You must attend the webinar live in order to earn CM credit.

Speaker: Pierre MaCoy

**The Pennsylvania Chapter is not responsible for the materials or opinions of the speaker(s) you will hear**

Deadline to register is September 5

If you’re interested in sponsoring a Webinar Wednesday session or have a session for Webinar Wednesday please contact us. Send your request to info@planningpa.org.

Please note: You will receive a reminder email a few days before the webinar with zoom information (please check your spam/junk folders). This email will be sent to the email address you used to register for the event.

Category: General /

Thanks for a successful summer happy hour!

July 9, 2023 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

Thanks to everyone who came out for the June happy hour at Sunset Social at Cira Green! We had a great time ringing in summer, even with coats on.

Save the date for Wednesday, August 16 for a late-summer happy hour event; more details to come next month!

Category: General /

Submit a Nomination for APAPASE Section Council

April 24, 2023 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

This summer we will hold elections for American Planning Association, Pennsylvania Chapter, Southeast Section (APA PA SE) Officers and Council members. Nominate a friend, nominate a colleague, nominate yourself! All nominations are due NO later than May 12th to elections@apapase.org!

We are taking nominations for Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, 6-7 Professional Planners, and 2-3 Citizen Planners.

The four Section Council Officer positions consist of President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Chair provides leadership and guides the development of the chapter, the Vice Chair assists, the Treasurer maintains the budget and all financial matters, while the Secretary administers the documentation and membership of the organization.
A Professional Planner is an individual earning a majority of their income practicing planning or who is retired from such occupation. Professional planners are required to be a member of the Pennsylvania Chapter of APA.
A Citizen Planner is any appointed or elected official who is involved in planning decisions for the betterment of a state, region, county, city or municipality; an individual who has an interest in furthering the purposes of Association, but who is not a Professional Planner (for example, planning commissioner, planning official, zoning board member, Philadelphia RCO zoning representative, or similar). Elected citizen planners will receive complementary membership to the Pennsylvania Chapter of APA.

If you are interested in serving either in an Officer or Council member position:

New members welcome! No previous experience required.
AICP not required to join the board.
Review the Chapter Bylaws for descriptions of the Officer and Council member duties and responsibilities.
Determine if your schedule will allow sufficient time for the position, generally 1-3 hours/month.
Speak with current Officers or Council members regarding any questions or concerns.
Submit a nomination and candidate statement (600 words max) to the Nominating Committee no later than May 12th at: elections@apapase.org. You may also submit a photo.

The official elections ballot will be distributed online during the summer by APA national to coincide with their election and voting will end in early September. The results of the election shall be published for Section members in October, with official terms to start in January 2024.

Please visit the APAPA-Southeast Section website for more information about the section.

Category: Featured, General /

December Annual Event Reflection

January 17, 2023 / APAPA-SE / Comments Off

Over 60 APAPA-SE members gathered at Daniel’s Restaurant and Bar in Conshohocken on December 8 for the 2022 Southeast Section Annual Meeting and to celebrate the retirement of Barry Seymour from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. Meeting attendees enjoyed networking opportunities and casual conversations while enjoying a multip

le course dinner and drinks from Daniel’s bar. Meeting highlights included an overview of the state of the chapter and information about the upcoming national conference from Alexis Williams, section president, presentation of the 2022 Southeast Section Student Paper Awards by Rebecca Ross, Education committee chair, and an in-depth conversation with Barry Seymour led by Matthew Popek, Events committee chair. A great time was had by all!

We plan to have our 2023 annual event in the fall, likely in Philadelphia. We hope you will consider joining us to enjoy the comradery, meet fellow planners (both new and seasoned), hear about a diverse skill base in planning from fellow attendees, and have some good food and drink. Watch our section’s social media pages for a Save the Date announcement later this year.