We invite members and others to submit announcements about upcoming events in the greater D.C. metropolitan area related to planning, architecture, historic preservation, transportation, smart growth, and other related topics.

To list your event, please email events@ncac-apa.org.

2008 Board of Directors - Election News

Election News
Elections for the National Capital Area Chapter Board are coming up in August. If you are interested in serving on the Board, please contact Carol Truppi at (202) 661-5316. It’s a great opportunity to meet other planners in the region and get involved in local planning issues. All of the Board positions will be on the ballot this year. The responsibilities of each of the positions are listed at our chapter website, at www.http://www.ncac-apa.org. They include:

• President
• Professional Development Officer
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Vice-president of Communications
• Five At-large Board Members.

If you are interested in serving on the Board, please submit a short bio on yourself, what position you are running for and why you want to run. Nominations should be submitted by September 16, 2008 to Carol Truppi at (202) 661-5316 or truppi@pbworld.com who can also provide additional information about the board and the position.

In addition, the Board is considering establishing new positions, described in more detail below in the by-law announcements. These include a President-elect and a Professional Development Officer – elect. Other chapters have or are considering these positions, which are useful in ensuring continuity and allowing people to learn about the responsibilities of the position prior to taking them on.

Bylaw Amendments Announcement
In preparing for the upcoming elections, the Board has been taking a look at the composition of the Board in light of the changing needs of the Chapter and new requirements. Several changes to the By-laws are proposed that are intended to address these needs, with the three major changes summarized below.

Two new board members would be elected; a President Elect and a Professional Development Officer (PDO) Elect. We are proposing to create these to provide continuity, and to assist in meeting the increasing requirements of these two positions. Individuals elected to the President-Elect position would serve a cumulative term of five years: Two as the President Elect, two as the President and one as the Past President. Individuals elected to the PDO position would serve a four year term, two as the PDO-elect and two as the PDO. All other board positions would continue to serve two-year terms. Further, a new officer, the Vice-President for Diversity and Community Outreach will be added.

Finally, we are striking the role of Vice-president for Legislation, and are proposing to integrate legislative review into the activities of our at-large board members. Your comments on these by-law amendments are welcome over the next 30 days, until September 20, 2008 and should be sent by email to newsletter@ncac-apa.org. In anticipation of these changes, recruitment for the upcoming election will seek candidates for these positions.

Key Changes to the By-Laws

Executive Board Composition
The Executive Board (or “Board”) consists of eight officers, five at-large Directors, a Student Representative, and the immediate Past President. The officers of the Chapter are the President, the President-elect, the Vice-President for Professional Development (PDO), the Professional Development Officer-elect, the Vice-President for Chapter Communications, the Vice President for Diversity and Community Outreach, the Vice President for Legislation, the Secretary and the Treasurer.

Section 3.3 Term of Office (New Section)
To promote continuity, Board members elected to the positions of President-elect and Vice-President for Professional Development-elect will assume the two year Board positions of President and Vice-President for Professional Development, The term of Office for all other Board members is two years, beginning on August 1 and ending July 31, in even-numbered years. Officers appointed to fill a vacancy during a term shall serve for the remainder of that term.

Duties of the Board Members

President-elect (New Section)
Duties of this position include: (1) presiding at meetings of the Chapter and Board in the absence of the President; (2) in the event that the President resigns, assuming the position of President; and (3) assisting the President in fulfilling the responsibilities of that position, and other duties as directed by the President and the Board.

Vice President of Professional Development-elect (New Section)
Duties of this position include: (1) assisting the Vice President of Professional Development in fulfilling the responsibilities of this position, and other duties as directed by the President and the Board; and (2) in the event that the Vice-President of Professional Development resigns, assuming the position of Vice President of Professional Development.

Vice President for Diversity and Community Outreach (New Section)

The duties of this position include: (1) develop goals and a work program to promote diversity and community outreach in Board and Chapter activities; (2) work with planning and planning-related organizations in communities throughout the Chapter Area to broaden the relevance and contribution of the planning profession to all local efforts to achieve social, economic, quality of life and quality of access goals consistent with the purposes and mission of APA and AICP; (3) help recruit more minority students into the planning profession; (4) create and improve planning education programs at secondary and university educational institutions, particularly but not only Historically Black Colleges and Universities, in the Chapter Area; and (4) contribute to and participate in related cross-professional programs and initiatives.

NCAC-APA Represents at National Conference!

The National Capital Area Chapter of the American Planning Association (NCAC-APA) was well represented at the 2008 National American Planning Association conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition to the many NCAC-APA chapter members that attended the conference, the Chapter´s Board of Director´s was actively involved in many aspects of the conference. The Chapter´s Vice President of Professional Development attended the Professional Development Officer´s (PDO) Exchange and sessions on ethics and the ongoing development of the American Institute of Certified Planners´ Certificate Maintenance program, gathering relevant and timely information that will be passed along to local chapter members throughout the coming year. In addition, the Chapter provided travel scholarships to DC-area post-graduate students to help them be able to attend the conference and was a contributing sponsor to the Maryland Reception, a networking opportunity for planners in the State of Maryland and surrounding areas.

Congratulations to chapter members that recently passed the AICP Exam in November 2007!

The NCAC-APA Chapter would like to congratulate chapter members that recently passed the AICP exam. Our newest AICP members are:

Supriya Chewle, Eric Feldman, Jessica Juriga, Stephanie McVey, Amanda Pereira, Marshall Rood, and Ronald Wilson.

LEADING PRACTITIONERS OFFER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES IN THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION

The Planning Academy at Virginia Tech announces its latest line-up of
dynamic professional development courses, taught by leading
practitioners.  All courses are conveniently located in our Old Town
Alexandria facilities, easily accessible to Washington, D.C., and all
parts of the National Capital Region.

INTRODUCTION TO URBAN DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND HISTORY
February 28-29

THE GOVERNMENT-NONPROFIT NEXUS IN PLANNING: EFFECTIVE COLLABORATION IN
TODAY´S ENVIRONMENT
March 14

READING AND INTERPRETING SITE PLANS
April 3-4

IMPACT FEES AND PROFFERS 2008
April 10-11

ACHIEVING NONPROFIT SUSTAINABILITY: EARNED INCOME STRATEGIES FOR
PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS
April 11

CONSERVATION EASEMENTS
May 29-30

The Planning Academy at Virginia Tech provides ongoing training for
mid-career planning, design and development professionals in a range of
implementation-related practice areas.

For complete details and registration, please visit our website:
http://www.planningacademy.ncr.vt.edu

NCAC-APA Awards Gala Photos!

On World Town Planning Day (November 8, 2007), NCAC-APA held its biennial Awards Gala in the Map Room of the National Music Center at the Historic Carnegie Library in downtown Washington, DC. The event was also a celebration of the National Capital Area Chapter’s 60th Anniversary. View a slideshow of photos from the events at http://www.ncac-apa.org/gala.html.

Volunteer Opportunities for UrbanPlan

A rigorous, realistic and engaging high school program, UrbanPlan is designed for economics and government classes, teaching 11th and 12th grade students the fundamentals of urban redevelopment.

Charged with the task of responding to a “Request for Proposal” for the redevelopment of a blighted neighborhood in a hypothetical community, students teams comprised of a Site Planner, Marketing Director, Neighborhood Liaison, Financial Analyst and City Liaison, work with LEGOS and a Microsoft Excel financial model to develop their vision for a new community.

Over the course of the three week program, students address challenging financial, social, political, and design issues, developing a real life understanding of the various stakeholders and tradeoffs associated with redevelopment. ULI members volunteer their time to present to students on projects in their community; to facilitate discussion in the classroom as students develop their own projects; and to serve as a city council member when the students present their final proposals.

Students walk away from UrbanPlan with an understanding that the built environment does not happen by accident; that the development around them is the result of both market and nonmarket forces; and that they as citizens and consumers can have a strong influence on what is built, when it is built and where it is built. After experiencing UrbanPlan, students look at their neighborhoods differently, having a new understanding and appreciation for the communities in which they live.

Almost 800 students in the Washington metropolitan region have experienced UrbanPlan over the past three years. During this school year UrbanPlan will be held at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda; Washington-Lee High School in Arlington; Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax; the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, and the University of Maryland’s Undergraduate and Graduate studies program in Urban Studies and Planning.

ULI Washington members enhance the students’ UrbanPlan experience by volunteering their time to facilitate discussion in the classroom; sitting on a City Council to judge the students’ proposals; speaking to classes on a nearby development project or leading a field trip. It is the interaction between the students and ULI members which makes this program so unique and successful.

FACILITATOR
As a Facilitator, your job will be to engage the student teams in discussions as to their reasoning behind the choices they made in redeveloping the community and to help the students think critically about the issues and specific responsibilities of their “job” (Director of Marketing, Site Planner, Financial Analyst, City Liaison, Neighborhood Liaison.) Facilitators are required to participate in two critical class hours mid way and three-quarters of the way through the program and are welcome to participate in both the first class where the program is introduced, and observe the final presentation to the jury. Typical in-class time commitment = 2 hours

CITY COUNCIL MEMBER
As a member of the Yorktown City Council, your job will be to act as a juror and critique both the final proposals and presentation skills of each of the student teams. Juries occur at the end of the program and will take place in or out of the school over a three-hour period. Out of class time commitment will consist of a meeting or conference call with other jury members to be briefed on the student teams, review format for the jury, and assign questions amongst jury members which would take no more than one additional hour.

CLASS SPEAKER
As the students go through UrbanPlan, teachers have found it helpful to have a ULI member come into the classroom to speak to the students on a nearby development project. This presentation allows for the students to apply the concepts they are learning in UrbanPlan to a project or place that they frequent on a regular basis. Class speakers apply the students’ UrbanPlan roles to the presentation, soliciting class involvement.

VOLUNTEER TRAINING
For each of the volunteer positions you will need to participate in an UrbanPlan tutorial. The training will provide you with the knowledge you need to be effective in the classroom as a facilitator and as a jury member on the city council. The students’ knowledge of urban redevelopment comes from the parameters set forth in the program therefore volunteers must become well versed in the scope of Yorktown’s revitalization!

If you would like to learn more about how you can volunteer your time to help engage our region’s students or would like to financially contribute to this educational program, contact UrbanPlan committee co-chairs:

Evan Goldman (202) 362-2400 egoldman@holladaycorp.com
Tennille Smith Parker (703) 248-5005 tparker@fallschurchva.gov

Or contact Sophie Lambert, ULI Washington’s Director of Community Outreach at 240-497-1919, ext. 103 or slambert@uli.org.

For additional information on UrbanPlan please visit www.urbanplan.org.