 Dennis Gordon, FAICP, has been award The William BOwdy Award for outstanding lifetime achievement by a Kentucky planner.
Career Highlights:
Dedication to the Profession. Dennis Gordon, FAICP, exemplifies what it means to be a planner and serves as a model that future professionals should strive to achieve. In his career of nearly 50-years he has actively worked to make the communities he serves better places that are more well-prepared to face the future. Mr. Gordon has spent twenty-seven of his forty-five-year planning career within the Commonwealth. He served as the Kentucky APA chapter president as well as the Indiana chapter president during the late eighties and early 1990s. Following this service, he went on to serve the APA at the national level. In addition to his work with APA at the chapter and national level, Mr. Gordon has constantly worked to further planning and share his experiences in the profession. He has written numerous published articles and spoken a countless national, state, and local conference throughout his tenure. His breadth of knowledge has led him to be a resource on topics like citizen engagement, zoning flexibility, and planning for community growth. Additionally, from 1991-1995, Mr. Gordon also served as an adjunct professor within the Department of Urban Planning at his alma mater, Ball State University. During his tenure at PDS, he has fostered a robust relationship with local universities to support co-op programs and hire both planning and GIS interns. Challenging the Status Quo. Mr. Gordon has never been one to accept that just because something has historically been done one way that it needs to continue down that same path. In his first Director role at Hardin County, he was instrumental in establishing the community’s first comprehensive plan, zoning ordinance, and subdivision regulations. In 1988, Mr. Gordon took on a new role as the Executive Director of Allen County (IN) Department of Planning Services. His efforts here helped solidify his acceptance into the Certified Planners College of Fellows in 2001. Mr. Gordon returned to the Commonwealth in 2002 to begin his role of Executive Director of the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission (NKAPC, now PDS). Upon accepting this role, he replaced the namesake of this award, Mr. William Bowdy, FAICP—unquestionably a large role to fill. Mr. Gordon introduced an agencywide mission statement and core values to help set a clear direction for staff. In 2005, PDS launched the One Stop Shop program to provide efficient and effective professional code administration services to the 19 jurisdictions within Kenton County on a contractual basis. Under Gordon’s leadership, the Long-Range Planning department began working shortly thereafter to begin a completely new comprehensive plan. This plan, now known as Direction 2030, was groundbreaking for Kenton County and the profession on national level. The plan content itself was a breath-of-fresh-air for the County, which had not benefited from new Goals and Objectives or completely new content since 1972. The plan was revolutionary on a national scale because it was one of the first in the country to only exist online. Mr. Gordon could have just been satisfied with the status quo, but instead challenged his teams to think differently and be bold. Today, that same boldness continues with the Zoning for the 21st Century (Z21) project. This effort seeks to coordinate the 20 different zoning ordinances found with Kenton County and help set clearer expectations for those wishing to build and make improvements in Kenton County. Even as he has announced his retirement for August 2020 he continues to push the envelope and challenge people to strive for excellence. Throughout his tenure in professional planning, Mr. Gordon has always had the best interests of his community and furthering the profession in mind. Hislifetime of work exemplifies the William Bowdy Award and he should undoubtedly be awarded with this honor. Want to take on a stronger role in addressing planning issues in Kentucky? The position of Secretary and of Treasurer will be on the ballot this year with the elected candidates taking office in January 2021. These positions will be held for two years. Candidate names should be received by the Administration Committee by May 29th. Position statements for candidates are also due by May 29th. A link to an online ballot will be sent to voting members in August with elections ending in early September. Candidates may petition to be included on the ballot and these must be received by June 30th.
If you are interested in running for either of the positions, need more information, or would like to help in any other way, please contact Administration Committee Chairperson, Karen Mohammadi, at Karen.mohammadi@mbakerintl.com or at 502-381-3109 or President Brian Davis at Brian.Davis@louisvilleky.gov. Induction to the AICP College of Fellows is the highest honor the American Institute of Certified Planners bestows upon a member.
Fellows of AICP are nominated and selected by their peers to recognize and honor their outstanding contributions as a professional planner. The outcomes of their individual efforts left demonstrably significant and transformational improvements to the field of planning and the communities they served. All Fellows are long-time members of AICP and have achieved excellence in professional practice, teaching and mentoring, research, and community service and leadership. APA-KY is proud to announce that two professional planners from Kentucky have been inducted into the 2020 College of Fellows of AICP! Stanford Harvey has had a distinguished career in urban design for over 25 years, and is currently the Director of the Urban Design & Planning practice area and Director of the Lexington Office for Lord Aeck Sargent. Stan has helped define and improve the physical context of over 80 communities across the Southeast, most notably his home states of Georgia and Kentucky. Notable highlights of his work include the 1996 “Olympic Development Program” in Atlanta, the transformation of over 85 educational facilities for Atlanta Public Schools; redevelopment planning for the Atlanta BeltLine and over $400m in public/private investment in Downtown Lexington, Kentucky. His work has earned 8 APA merit awards and he has served on the Executive Committees of both APA-GA and APA-KY. Jack Trawick’s forty‐year journey has been remarkably diverse and substantial. In 1980, Jack became executive director of the Louisville Community Design Center - later to be renamed the Center for Neighborhoods (CFN). During his three decades as the director, the CFN became dedicated to resident-driven community improvement – a mission achieved through facilitated planning processes and civic education, and by serving as a catalyst for the development of affordable housing, parks, and public improvements. The result of these efforts has been to increase the vitality of Louisville neighborhoods and Kentucky towns through plans and community projects that reflect the genuine involvement of citizens striving to create a better place for themselves, for their families, and for their neighbors. In Jack’s “retirement,” he serves on the boards of The Housing Partnership, Inc. and Wellspring, Inc, helping fulfill his goal of being a lifelong contributor to the betterment of his home community. Congratulations Jack and Stan on being bestowed this tremendous honor for your dedication and service to the betterment of the Commonwealth of Kentucky! We look forward to recognizing and celebrating your achievements at the OKI Regional Planning Conference this fall. We are now accepting nominations for the 2020 APA-KY Planning Awards. Nominations must be submitted no later than April 1, 2020. Self-nominations are encouraged. Awards will be given in the following categories:
Download the nomination form (Word format). Just a friendly reminder that the November 2018 AICP Exam application window will open on June 1 at 9:00am CT. The early bird deadline will be on June 1 at 11:59pm CT, and the final application deadline for this window is June 28 at 5:00pm CT. For a complete rundown on what you need to know to determine if you qualify, how you apply, etc. please go to:
https://www.planning.org/certification/currentexam/#howtoapply And if you have any questions about any of this, please email the APA-KY Professional Development Officer, Brian Davis, at brian.davis@louisvilleky.gov. The 2018 APA-KY Annual Meeting will be held on Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 2:45pm during the Spring Conference.
Click here for the Annual Meeting Agenda. Click here for the 2017 Annual Meeting minutes. We are now accepting nominations for the 2018 APA-KY Planning Awards. Nominations must be submitted no later than April 20, 2018. Self-nominations are encouraged. Awards will be given in the following categories:
Click here to download the nomination form. The 2018 Regular Session of the KY Legislature convened on January 2 in Frankfort.
So far, legislators have introduced 547 bills, including many relevant to planning and zoning. Please click here for a detailed listing summarizing those. There are a few bills already that are of interest and/or have the potential for significant impact on planning issues, such as:
We welcome your feedback on these bills in particular, as well as on the bills listed here, especially if any of them affect your jurisdiction. If you are aware of any bill not listed that you feel is important for us to track, please let us know. We would like to generate some discussion among the membership to determine whether there are any bills on which the KY Chapter should consider taking a position or whether there are any bills of interest that we would consider encouraging members to contact their legislators about. Please email Kristan Curry (kcurry@lexingtonky.gov) or Parker Sherwood (psherwood@lexingtonky.gov) if you would like to be added to our list and receive regular legislative updates. The APA-KY 2018 Spring Conference will be May 9-11 in Berea.
More information to come.... Kentucky has four new members of the American Institute of Certified Planners. Congratulations to Vicki Birenberg, Samantha Castro, Laura Mattingly, and Brooke Viehmann for passing the AICP Exam during the Spring 2017 testing period. Not only did they pass the exam, but they endured a six week waiting period to find out their results, which was brought on by the AICP Board’s review of the newly formatted exam. Once again, congratulations on your accomplishment and don’t forget to log your training hours!
And while we’re talking about the AICP test, just a friendly reminder that the application period for the Spring 2018 testing period will begin December 1. This will be the first opportunity for planners and students who qualify under the new AICP Candidate Pilot Program will be eligible to register for the exam. For more information about the AICP Candidate Pilot Program please go to https://www.planning.org/aicp/candidate/. And as always, if you have any questions about the AICP process or need study information, please email Brian Davis at brian.davis@louisvilleky.gov. |
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