Located in the Sea to Sky Corridor, Jessie is a Registered Professional Planner and consultant focused on housing solutions, public policy, and development processes. She is a leader in the housing sector and has over ten years experience working with local governments and non-profit housing providers across BC on policies, plans, strategies, needs assessments, programs and new developments. Her methodology takes a people-centred approach and is grounded in meaningful and intentional planning processes. Jessie works closely with organizations, the public, and partners in the sector to create unique and effective solutions. 

Eric Aderneck, RPP, MPL, BCOM, DULE.

Over the past two decades, his diverse experience includes working for the public and private sectors in the Metro Vancouver region and parts of Province through a number of different capacities including planning policy, real estate development, consultant, and instructor.

He is well-versed with industrial, employment, and economic issues in the Metro Vancouver region and British Columbia, having led the industrial lands portfolio at Metro Vancouver Regional Government. He has completed industrial lands inventories and studies, written and overseen a number of leading publications on the topic of industrial lands supply, demand, utilization, intensification, and stratification, office development patterns, as well as market / financial and policy / regulation maters, and associated employment and economic implications.

He has written a series of magazine articles about industrial land use and trends, and the importance of industrial uses as part of cities. He consults on select projects.

More information can be found on his website www.industriallands.ca and on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/ericaderneck. He also teaches planning courses: www.LearnPlanning.ca.

JRTW Planning Services, Inc. is a firm established and based in Victoria, British Columbia that offers professional planning and advisory services to a range of private and public sector clients. The Principal of the company, Bruce Anderson, has returned to private practice after 25 years of managing planning and development service departments for a range of municipal governments in BC. JRTW brings a team of professional Associates to provide community planning and development services in areas of planning, urban design, public engagement, development approvals, land economics, heritage, and transportation; offering a full complement of services to meet our private and public sector clients needs.

Jada is co-owner and Principal of CitySpaces Consulting, with 18 years experience in Canada and internationally practicing social policy planning, poverty reduction, needs analysis, housing strategies, regional and provincial-wide initiatives, and community development. She has worked in many different community contexts and can draw from her experience to add value to the clients she serves. Jada’s niche is helping communities manage change and improve livability standards during economic transitions.

Jada is frequently called upon as a subject matter expert on sensitive planning studies and to prepare special reports with recommendations to municipalities, regional districts, Ministries, government agencies, as well as industry. She often joins consortium consulting teams to undertake large-scale master plans and OCPs, often leading the socio-economic component, scenario analysis, and translating policy into land use plans.

Jada is known for her inclusive and collaborative approaches to planning processes. As a confident and energetic leader, she is adept at assessing complex social and community issues, creating tailored-made solutions that balance context, culture, and place.

Monique’s 34 years of experience includes project management, transportation policy, transportation planning, strategic planning, traffic safety, urban planning and public consultation. Her pragmatic approach to developing affordable practical solutions has been well received by clients, developers, senior executive and municipal councils. She has significant public and stakeholder engagement experience including engagement planning, delivering public engagement events, preparing surveys and facilitating stakeholder workshops. She has significant active transportation planning and traffic safety experience spanning most of her career. Monique uses the application of GIS for transportation trend analysis, coordinates travel surveys and big data analysis, and excels at long-range forecasting using EMME and Vistro. She is particularly interested in integrating land use and transportation planning, noting that this is critical to plan better communities and prevent traffic safety and congestion issues. As someone who worked for municipal and provincial governments for nearly half of her career, Monique has a solid understanding of development planning processes and has been involved in hundreds of development applications.

Lesley Cabott is a senior planner, engagement specialist and northern and community specialist. Lesley leads Stantec’s planning practice in the North. She has decades of experience working with communities, governments, indigenous people, businesses, utilities and non-government organizations planning for sustainable futures across northern Canada.

Lesley has developed and led award winning public and stakeholder engagement and planning processes.  Her range of planning experiences include: community, regional, transportation, design, asset management, capital plans, and energy, climate and sustainability initiatives.  For Lesley, planning is about people and making sure they have safe, resilient, and vibrant places to live.  Lesley has received several professional awards and recognition including: Governor General’s Leadership, Canadian Electricity Association’s Sustainability Award, PIBC Planning Excellence and Consulting Engineers of British Columbia.  Lesley is the President of the Planning Institute of British Columbia and sits on the Boards of both the Yukon Energy Corporation and the Chu Niikwan Development Corporation.

Rostered Climate Advisor, Canadian Urban Institute and the Government of Canada.  

I bring significant experience in both land use and community planning and teaching / lecturing with the strategic inclusion of climate change, natural assets (NbS) + asset management, sustainability (with a specific focus upon the UN Sustainable Development Goals), environmental stewardship and management, in addition to developing and executing training in topics ranging from ‘climate change 101’ to asset management to stewardship focused planning. Throughout my career I have designed and facilitated a wide variety of engagement, facilitation and training programs, in person and virtually, in addition to developing guides / learning-focused products for audiences from ages 12 to adult of various learning capacities. 

• Registered Professional Planner (RPP) with 25+ years of experience
• Expertise in:
  • Climate change mitigation, adaptation & infrastructure resilience
  • Land use, asset management & sustainability planning
  • Nature-based solutions (NbS) & environmental stewardship
• Strategic Focus Areas:
  • Climate risk integration in infrastructure & community planning
  • UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) alignment
• Collaboration & Engagement:
  • Experience working with First Nations, Métis, Inuit communities, all levels of government, and the private sector
  • Skilled facilitator and educator, delivering training on climate risk, asset management, and sustainability

With offices in Vancouver, Guelph and Whitehorse, LEES+Associates is an award-winning landscape architecture and planning firm. We leverage our expertise in virtually every aspect of parks, recreation, and open space planning, design, operations, and management to provide our clients with a broad spectrum of planning, engagement and design services based on the principle of supporting healthy, sustainable communities.

With 25 years collective experience, we provide: increased returns on investment, reduced risk & increased likelihood of success of your planning application or permit.  Carswell Planning is the right choice for: taking an application forward, planning justification brief, site plans, public consultation and presentation to Committee and Council.  Development Permits are our specialty. Celebrate your success with Carswell Planning at your side.

Brian Dagneault is an experienced and accomplished professional planner who has provided planning and project management services to a wide variety of clients in both the public and private sector for over forty years.  He has worked on a wide range of urban development, land use and public policy assignments throughout the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and the Central Interior regions of British Columbia as well as Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, the State of Washington and Mainland China.

Through these varied assignments, Mr. Dagneault has developed a thorough knowledge of the diverse issues surrounding urban development including land use patterns and relationships, social and financial issues, transportation and environmental concerns.  His experience also includes the preparation of special studies and reports for Municipal, Provincial and First Nation governments.

Brian has proven to be an effective team leader assuming responsibility for coordinating an often diverse group of professionals while also organizing and managing various general public and stakeholder processes.  Brian has also received international awards for his work in urban planning and urban design.

Located in Kelowna, BC, Urban Option's  focus is on small to mid-sized projects where the developer lacks the expertise or time to make these types of application.  Urban Options Planning & Permits navigates the municipal approval process and takes the “worry” out of securing regulatory approvals for all types of applications.  

We bring a unique approach to our business, providing our clients with personalized information and excellent customer service.  We are experienced in the regulatory processes and can make them universally understandable.  We know what questions to ask and how to seek the information required to highlight challenges in order to move a development project through the process efficiently.

Urban Options has been in operation since January 2015 and has completed a variety of projects, from Salmon Arm to Penticton. The bulk of our work is conducted in the Kelowna area and ranges from carriage house rezoning to commercial projects involving multiple processes, including lot consolidations. With over 30 years of planning experience, the team is able to find solutions for most projects.  Please view our webpage at www.urbanoptions.ca for more details.

I look forward to an opportunity to meet with you to discuss the specific needs to proceed. Please call me at 250.575.6707.

Patricia (Trish) Dehnel is a Registered Professional Planner passionate about healthy and connected community and Principal of Dehnel Planning.

Gratefully living on the traditional, converging and unceded territory of the Ktunaxa, the Syilx, and the Sinixt peoples, Dehnel Planning, is a sole proprietorship based in Nelson; and provides “Planner on Call” service: local, expert, public administrative capacity and land use planning guidance, with an age-friendly and climate action lens; to BC Local Governments (especially Kootenay-Boundary/Okanagan-Interior region) as we collectively strive for connected, healthy, inclusive, energy-efficient, resilient and sustainable community.

Patricia Dehnel has over 25 years of experience working in the Kootenays with BC Local Governments on land use planning, stakeholder engagement, community outreach, building energy efficiency, community energy planning, carbon neutral operations, program management, public administration and policy development.  Patricia serves as co-chair of the PIBC Climate Action Sub-Committee (since 2019) and is a past PIBC Board of Directors Member (2017-2021).  She is a talented facilitator, presenter, and communicator. Patricia has a strong interest in the healthy built environment, community connection and inclusivity, informed by her background in municipal / regional planning, community energy management and public administration.  She believes in inclusion, collaboration, resourcefulness and working to keep our communities healthy, liveable and safe for all and for future generations.

Regions of practice include:
Kootenay Rocky Mountain, Okanagan Interior and all of British Columbia.

A senior freelance planner serving your community, region or industry by building processes, structures, policies and infrastructure though innovative and collaborative leadership. Areas of practice includes community planning, public collaborations & economic development. 

Elkplan Design helps people in your community share and visualize ideas, concerns and hopes for the future to support their participation in engagement activities.  Our approach illuminates community engagement processes and improves information sharing through friendly, vibrant illustrations, live drawing (graphic recording), and easy to follow document designs.

Cherie Enns Consulting specializes in creative community planning and engagement strategies, including grant writing, policy analysis,  and fundraising skills, while integrating technology and a range of visioning and interactive tools to design and better plan communities and projects for all.  Recent clients include municipalities, international multilateral organizations, and private foundations.   

We are a dedicated, multifaceted team with a proven track record in providing quality results, including research-informed policy reports, age-friendly community engagement, securing grants, training, fundraising, and much more, locally and internationally.  

PFS Studio is a Vancouver-based planning, urban design and landscape architecture firm with a professional staff of 35 offering consulting services nationally and internationally to both public and private sectors. PFS Studio’s work is inspired by placemaking, regional cultural landscapes and the visions and aspirations of involved communities.

Urban Strategies® is an urban design, planning and engagement consultancy with 80+ staff working from our three studios in Vancouver and Ontario. We lead complex projects in cities all over the world and have an active practice across Canada and in the US, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. Together with our clients and collaborators, we are committed to creating places that attract people and advance equity and sustainability. Our clients include large cities and small towns, residential, commercial, and institutional developers, public agencies, universities, hospitals, and community groups. We regularly work with large, multidisciplinary teams on high profile and complex projects at all scales. Our firm has earned over 120 design, planning and public outreach awards from national and international professional bodies. Project highlights in BC include: 

• ʔəy̓alməxw/Iy̓álmexw Jericho Lands Comprehensive Development Concept Plan, Vancouver
• Surrey Centre Block Master Plan, City of Surrey
• Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw Update, City of North Vancouver
• 2065 Campus Master Plan for Simon Fraser University 
• BC Housing’s Kingsway Edmonds revitalization plan
• District of Squamish - Land Planning & Feasibility Studies Consulting Services 
• Regional District of Saanich Quadra McKenzie Study
• Various development projects including the former Saputo Dairyland Plant and Telus Site, a 19-acre transit oriented development at the heart of Burnaby’s Bainbridge Urban Village.

At Innovate Planning & Co., we help discover your organization’s potential through strategic planning & creation solutions, to provide creative and compelling solutions in:

• Strategic Plans and Organizational Alignment
• Master Plans, Programs and Policies
• Business Operations and Process Improvement
• Workshops, Training, Design and Delivery

Together we transform possibilities and potential into actionable solutions and measurable outcomes.

Nigel is a professional planner and landscape architect registered in British Columbia. He has actively undertaken numerous planning and urban design projects in Canada and the United States since 2000. Nigel’s previous project management experience has included large master planned communities, urban revitalization, community branding & marketing, waterfront and resort scale development. 

Nigel’s early career began in Sacramento, California where he was primarily responsible for building and maintaining relations with clients, directing and completing site / budget feasibility studies, managing an in-house team of junior staff, and ensuring quality control review of project work.

Upon his return to British Columbia, Nigel applied his project management expertise to the oversight of a diverse project portfolio at Lanarc Consultants (now Golder Associates Ltd.) in Nanaimo, BC. His role primarily involved broad scale land planning, urban design & policy development for both government and private clientele. Nigel then moved into a community-planning role at the City of Parksville for several years, where he gained insight into jurisdictional policy and bylaw development based on provincial acts and charter language.

More recently, Nigel established a successful start-up consulting partnership that has serviced the Vancouver Island region for 10 years. Upon the completion of several Municipal long range planning projects as a sub-consultant, Nigel also undertook a contract senior planning role for Stantec Consulting in Victoria, BC. Nigel has extensive experience in the management of planning and development initiatives within the local government context.

Based in Kelowna, Amanda is a Professional Planner who divides time between planning and public consultation delivered throughout Western and Northern Canada. With excellent attention to detail, organization, and creative thinking; Amanda excels at translating design and visionary aspects of projects for clients, stakeholders, and the public by way of descriptive documents and presentations.

Over the past 12 years with Stantec, Amanda completed a wide range of planning projects for both private and public sector clients with direct experience creating statutory and non-statutory plans in the realms of neighbourhood, community, and revitalization planning. Viewing every project as unique, she has also designed many different engagement exercises to be reflective of clients' and stakeholders' specific needs including age-specific activities for youth, personal interviews and interview guides for business owners, confidential stakeholder meetings in highly-emotional settings, generalized public information sessions, and hands-on Council workshops to name a few.

BRIAN G . HART & COMPANY is an integrated Architectural, Planning and Urban Design practice, with significant experience in residential development planning, heritage restoration and heritage area infill, master planning of large sites and integrating sustainable design principles.  The firm has worked in BC and Washington State.

Bayshore Planning Services is a professional land use consulting company. Helping to shape sustainable land use development goals. We guide you through government agency regulations and engage with community stakeholder groups. We specialize in marine development projects with Provincial crown lands and local municipalities. 

Our strategy through  professional planning advice is to develop creative solutions to land use challenges and to resolve land use issues for residential, commercial and industrial clients. properties. Our goal is to identify the best path forward to achieve high performance developments for communities.

Dan is a Registered Professional Planner with over 25 years of experience in land use and infrastructure planning through his work in both the private and public sector. Dan is adept in all aspects of community development, and in recent years has focused on Indigenous self-determination, infrastructure and asset management, local governance and finance, and development cost recovery. He has worked across the country with dozens of First Nation and non-Indigenous communities and believes strongly in the integration of land use, infrastructure and finance in developing resilient communities. Dan maintains excellent working relationships with staff and elected officials in communities throughout BC, as well as with various provincial ministries in Victoria. He is a past President of PIBC (2015-2017) and currently represents the institute on the Development Finance Review Panel and Asset Management BC Partnership Committee. Currently, Dan is the President of the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP), representing over 7,500 professional planners across Canada and internationally.

Shannon is a Senior Planning Consultant at Cornerstone Planning Group. Her experience spans higher education institutions, provincial government, and local government.  Shannon's work is driven by her natural curiosity and passion for engagement and community development. With a strong and versatile skill set, she is adept at managing complex and highly regulatory projects across multiple levels of government, as well as with various organizations and institutions. 

Cornerstone Planning Group is a strategic planning firm with expertise in strategic analysis and planning, stakeholder engagement and consultation, as well as infrastructure, space, and organizational planning. Our work emphasizes long-term planning and rigorous research into relevant trends and service demand patterns. Since 1973, we have been pioneers in facilities programming and consultation, successfully designing and carrying out over 1,000 projects that support a wide range of high-profile planning initiatives for the public and private sectors throughout Western Canada. With our extensive experience, we provide planning services to various sectors including post-secondary institutions, non-profit organizations, First Nations organizations, community groups, private corporations, as well as municipal, provincial, and federal government agencies."

SLA is proud to provide Master Planning, Urban Design, Site Planning, Feasibility Studies (working closely with land economics consultants) on Multi-Family, Mixed-Use, Placemaking and Infrastructure projects, providing full services from conceptual, schematic and detailed design; contract documentation; field review; construction contract administration; and, project close-out. SLA focuses on creating great work through collaboration, attention to detail and experience with a keen interest in sustainable master planning, passive house and engineered wood solutions. SLA has extensive experience with complex urban sites in many jurisdictions and a particular passion for mixed-use projects that bring a richness to the urban fabric of the city allowing for people to live, work and play.

Maren is most recognized for her long-range community planning work, inclusive and robust public engagement processes and her dedication to healthy built environments. She has participated on several committees as a planning advisor including the Provincial Health Services Authority’s Healthy Built Environment Linkages Toolkit Advisory Committee. Her planning and facilitation work with Indigenous communities has recently been recognized by the University of Manitoba City Planning Department's Indigenous Planning Studio program. Working directly for municipalities and private firms over the years and working side by side with Indigenous community members to support capacity building and self-governance, Maren and her team have developed a strong understanding of the needs and pressures facing communities and best practices in community planning. Maren has been a PIBC Mentor for new planners and UBC SCARP Mentor for students for several years.  

About Meraki:
We are a relationship-based company focused on building healthy, sustainable communities by balancing social, economic, cultural and environmental values. Meraki Community Planning is a national award-winning, full-service community planning firm specializing in long range planning and community engagement. In 2021 we received the CIP National Award of Excellence for Inclusionary Planning for our work with Indigenous communities, particularly with one of our longstanding clients, the Kitselas First Nation. Our clients include, but are not limited to, municipal government, First Nations, academic institutions, developers, non-profits and commercial businesses. The company's mandate is that of a participatory approach to planning communities - engaging community members and stakeholders early and often in community planning projects.
 

TRUE Consulting has provided planning and engineering consulting services to municipal, regional, provincial, first nation communities and private sector clients since 1986.  Our clients benefit from our inter-disciplinary collaboration, where we combine professional planning expertise with in-house engineering expertise, and strong technical support from our GIS/mapping/land surveying group. TRUE serves the B.C. interior with offices in Kamloops, Williams Lake, Vernon, Penticton and Trail.

Gerry Melenka is a registered professional planner with over 20 years experience across Canada in both the public and private sector.  He is a community planner, place-maker, engagement specialist and project manager.   For more about our team and the services we provide visit www.true.ca.

Stephen Mikicich Consulting Ltd. offers a broad range of planning services – including all facets of community and land use planning. More specialized services include strategic planning, local economic development, downtown revitalization, business improvement areas, tourism, heritage conservation, municipal development approvals, public engagement, planning research, and strategic partnerships. 

Firm principal, Stephen Mikicich is a Registered Professional Planner (RPP) with 30 years of experience in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors  in British Columbia.  He has led numerous ‘first of their kind’ initiatives in community development, and his work has been recognized with numerous awards of excellence.

Devon is a sustainability planner with over a decade of experience working with governments, First Nations and leading organizations across Canada. He has expertise at the nexus of design, policy, and sustainability, with experience working on complex and innovative projects at a variety of scales.

Devon was previously the Community Energy Planner for the City of Victoria, leading on progressive initiatives such as the adoption of the BC Energy Step Code, as well as innovative building retrofit strategies and programs. Prior to that, he led the sustainability practice at Perkins+Will’s Toronto office, working with a variety of clients on industry-leading sustainable design projects. He brings an open, collaborative and pragmatic approach to his projects.

Hillary is a Registered Professional Planner with ten years’ experience in both the public and private sector. She is a collaborative planner who enjoys leading community engagement processes and managing projects for inter-disciplinary teams.

Since 2013, Hillary has lived in Prince George on the unceded traditional territory of Lheidli T’enneh First Nation. At M’akola, she works on development and policy projects across the province, with a focus on the north. Hillary holds a Masters of Urban & Regional Planning from Queen’s University (2013) and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography from the University of Victoria (2009).

Zoë Morrison is a Whitehorse-based community planner with fifteen years of experience. Zoë has worked with communities, First Nations and local governments across Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Northern Ontario. Her experience includes official community plans, neighbourhood designs, strategic plans, land use plans at various scales, active transportation plans, zoning bylaws, and downtown revitalization projects. Zoë is committed to collaborative planning and has managed engagement programs for complex and controversial projects.

Jon Munn has worked as a consultant, a local government planner and a contractor to local governments for over 20 years. He started his Victoria-based consulting business in 2009 to work on local government policy and bylaw contracts, lead public engagement projects, assist clients in the land development process and work with nonprofits. The focus of CoPlanning is on collaborative community projects such as sustainability planning, policy making, alternative housing options and building participatory communities. Jon can help clients apply a broad range of perspectives to proposals, as his background includes Sustainable Energy Management (SEMAC), healthy communities work, SafeGrowth (3rd generation Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) and urban design guideline development.

Jon was awarded the highest academic achievement from Capilano University’s leading local government administration program and has taught at Vancouver Island University’s Master of Community Planning program.

Brian brings over 15 years of municipal and private sector planning experience to B&A. Having worked on projects across Canada, Brian is actively engaged in significant redevelopment projects across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Brian’s expansive project list includes downtown and mature area policy and land use planning, transit-oriented development, master planning, and community engagement. In addition to his expertise in leading minor land-use amendments to highly complex infill projects, Brian supports B&A through comprehensive strategic planning, shaping community dialogue around vibrant, livable communities.

Brian has led numerous projects, including the award-winning Bonnie Doon Town Centre Master Plan, Burquitlam Plaza Master Development Plan, Coquitlam Centre Master Development Plan, and Village of Griesbach NE corner Master Plan, along with numerous other private and public sector projects.

PlanUrban Land Use Consultants specializes in land use and development applications management. We have significant expertise in project visioning and management, site and urban design, environmental planning, subdivision, variances, rezoning applications, bylaw drafting and development and public consultation. We have a thorough understanding of provincial land use legislation in BC and working within both municipal and regional district local governments. We can help shape your vision and bring your project to fruition regardless of size of complexity. 

Young, Anderson provides legal services to local governments throughout British Columbia. Our work reflects the wide variety of issues addressed by local governments, and our lawyers are equipped to provide timely and comprehensive advice on planning and land use management matters including bylaw drafting and interpretation; jurisidiction and procedure; and enforcement.

Our contract planning services assist local governments to effectively process their application backlogs, expedite planning reviews, reduce departmental workloads, and save public resources. We can also assist your less experienced planners to build their capacity and knowledge. With over 40 years of combined experience reviewing, analyzing, and processing most types of land use applications will help you get through your application backlog and reduce your stress!

Our extensive knowledge in creating and analyzing planning and land use policy at the provincial, regional, watershed, municipal, community, and neighbourhood scale can assist your community planning department develop policy guidance and strategies that implement your community’s goals. We know that to be effective these policies and strategies must also inform site planning and development. 

Ian has diversified planning and management experience in both the public and private sector working in 5 provinces and all 3 territories over the past 46 years. Ian is the longest practicing planner in northern Canada. He is recognized as a thorough, creative problem solver committed to finding practical, environmentally sound and culturally appropriate solutions. His diverse accomplishments have included an eclectic mix of complex challenges as divergent as the problems of single industry resource towns to initial planning for the creation of 10 arctic national parks and protected areas, the routing of pipelines and rail corridors and the siting/approval of petrochemical plants. Mr. Robertson  has been involved in the preparation of  community and regional land use plans, regional tourism strategies, airport master plans, as well as land claim and inter-governmental agreement negotiations. He has also developed expertise in land development and environmental impact assessment.

Ian has volunteered his time and expertise  serving on national organization boards,  the University of Waterloo Senate,  Yukon Land Use Planning Council, Inuvialuit Environmental Impact Assessment Board, Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce and Consulting Engineers of Yukon. He has also contributing to a variety of technical professional committees such as the Canadian Standards Association and Canadian Institute of Planners. Ian is a strong believer in an inclusive, transparent planning approach balancing  today's needs with preserving future choices.  He promotes a holistic perspective built on the principle that diversity lies at the intersection of community health, economy, environment and culture nurturing system stability and resilience.

Michael offers 25+ yrs experience in Lower Mainland. From 2-lot splits to 1,000 home mixed use developments. ALC Applications, EcoVillage design, Subdivision design and feasibility, Zoning & OCP applications. Planning opinions. Peer reviews & public agency advisory. In-house design: Vectorworks. Office DT - Vancouver: 2007 to present. Design Studio - Gibsons: 2020 to present. Also specializes in Mixed Use Master Planning and Official Community and Neighbourhood Plans.

Noha is a Principal of CitySpaces Consulting, a leading provider of community planning, development consulting and consultation services in communities throughout Western Canada.

Noha has over 20 years of planning experience, with a particular focus on housing, homelessness and social planning. As development consultants, CitySpaces supports non-profits and public institutions to realize their visions for development. Noha acts as the owners representative for these groups throughout all stages of a project – from concept through construction. She has led and provided oversight on new non-profit housing and mixed use construction projects throughout British Columbia, including the VPL library/YWCA project in Strathcona, Covenant House’s expansion project in Downtown Vancouver and seniors housing in Peachland, BC. As an adjunct professor, she taught the Affordable Housing Policy course at SCARP and she has worked in France, Egypt and Pakistan.

Holly is a Principal of Urban Strategies and heads the firm's Vancouver office. He is an urban planner with a breadth of experience leading major initiatives for communities in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. With over 15 years of experience, Holly’s work encompasses community planning, policy development, community engagement, and project management. Prior to joining Urban Strategies, Holly was a Senior Planner with the City of Vancouver for a decade, where he led major initiatives such as the American Planning Association award-winning Northeast False Creek Area Plan Project, the Metropolitan Core Jobs and Economy Land Use Plan, and the West End Community Plan. In his previous consulting work, he contributed to the Capital City Downtown Plan for Edmonton, recognized with numerous awards. Holly holds a degree in Regional and Urban Planning from the University of Saskatchewan and has completed specialized studies in facilitation and the built environment. Holly is a member of the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s Urban Habitat / Urban Design committee, sharing knowledge and professional learning. He is a regular guest critic, lecturer, and Master’s thesis committee member for the University of British Columbia’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and School of Community and Regional Planning, and regularly lectures at Simon Fraser University’s City Conversations and Urban Studies program.

Throughout his 40-year career, John has worked as a consultant for government, land developers, utilities, communities, and First Nations. He has flown, driven, biked, and boated to project sites, working with clients, stakeholders, and other professionals to develop great plans.

His portfolio contains an array of award-winning community planning and design projects that cover the gamut from broad region-wide policy planning and urban design to detailed implementation strategies for specific sites. John has the ability to marry planning, development, community, and environmental concerns in order to instill confidence in his clients and create plans that inspire great communities.

With over 15 years of professional planning experience in the public and private sector, Shannon provides consulting expertise to local government and private clients regarding zoning matters, land use, and navigating government approvals - with a specialization in agricultural planning.  During her time as a local government planner, in addition to development applications, Shannon was involved in the development of over 15 master plans and championed the development of a revitalization strategy for the West Kelowna downtown core and the City’s agricultural planning portfolio.

Shannon is a Registered Professional Planner and is the past Chair of the Okanagan-Interior Chapter of the Planning Institute of BC (PIBC). Shannon is passionate about strong urban design, agricultural planning, urban centre revitalization and ensuring that plans are developed in local context with a strong sense of place.

Ren Thomas Research & Planning is a sole proprietorship. Ren has a M.A. and Ph.D. in Community and Regional Planning from the University of British Columbia, and is a member of the Planning Institute of British Columbia and the Canadian Institute of Planners (RPP, MCIP). She has been doing research consulting since 2011, with a range of clients as diverse as Phoenix Youth, Autism Nova Scotia, Infrastructure Canada, and the Government of Nunavut. Projects have spanned many topics within housing and transportation: comparing case studies on housing options for different demographic groups, supporting program development in affordable housing through interpretation of statistical data, and jurisdictional scans on the inclusion of affordable housing in zoning by-laws and municipal plans. As a sole proprietor, she sometimes hires students or recent graduates to conduct GIS analysis or assist with data collection.

Ecollaborate Now Consulting specializes in community engagement and building inter-agency collaboration to develop localized approaches to further community interests. From active transportation to solid waste, housing, indigenous community planning, and organizational governance, Ecollaborate Now has experience and can help with research, facilitation, stakeholder working group development, and more. Just reach out.

William Trousdale is President of EcoPlan International, an award-winning planning, decision support and community engagement firm. He is a certified professional planner, economist and decision analyst. His work applies insights from strategic planning, structured decision making, behavioral decision research and negotiation science to a range of contemporary issues. Driving this work is the value-focused integration of analytical methods with participatory engagement.  Subject areas include: comprehensive community plans, economic development, cultural impact, program evaluations, business case, tourism, community and regional planning, valuation/compensation, health, energy, site selection, biodiversity, parks management and TUS. These projects, located around the world, have been recognized with over a dozen awards of excellence from CIP, PIBC, IAP2, TTRA and others. William is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Community and Regional Planning and at Simon Fraser University’s School of Resource and Environmental Management as well as an Associate at SFU’s Center for Sustainable Community Development. 

Eric Vance has almost 40 years of experience as a professional planner, economist. management consultant and educator, specializing in community and regional planning, urban land economics, real estate development and project management. He has conducted hundreds of consulting assignments for a broad range of clients during his career, including many local governments. 

Eric was a senior member of the management consulting group at Coopers & Lybrand Chartered Accountants for eleven years. He then served as Director of Planning for the City of Port Moody for three years prior to starting his own consulting practice in 1995.

Eric is also an Adjunct Professor in the graduate School of Resource & Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University and was formerly an Adjunct Professor in the graduate School of Community & Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia.

Founding Principal/Urban Design + Economic Vibrancy - 

An award winning multidisciplinary urban design professional as well as a recognized thought leader in walkable, economically equitable, vibrant city building, I am the Founding Principal of an exciting new consultancy, Vibrant Places Inc., which I co-lead w/ my new business partner. In rethinking cities strategically in a post-covid context for economic equity, place making, urban planning + community capacity building to strengthen the social fabric of neighbourhoods, to support citizens’ "buy-in" to the "social contract", we have deep municipal, private sector + NGO experience to be able to offer a suite of services to all sizes of communities, including the heart of places, Main Street. As the City of North Vancouver’s former Urban Designer/Development Planner during its civic renewal, I created the public space vibrancy programming around the renovated City Hall + new City Library. I also oversaw the outside consultants for the award-winning Civic Plaza, the associated layered north facing park space behind City Hall resulting from a land transfer involving the Vista Commons, plus the reinvention of the staff parking as a public market overflow off peak hours. I was the Founding Executive Director of the Smart Growth Canada Network, where I was chief editor for the nine visually enhanced e-course modules on Canadian success stories on implemented smart growth principles, w/ funding from NRCan + REFBC.

Wiser Projects is a professional consulting firm that is committed to supporting vibrant and diverse communities first and foremost. With our main office based in the Lekwungen territories, our clients are diverse in composition and needs, and we strive to meet them where their needs are and help raise capacity through a collaborative approach along the way. We are a woman-led organization that is seeking B-Corp certification with over 35 years of collective experience in community planning, policy-writing, non-profit and for-profit development, and engagement and consultation.

Our interdisciplinary team partners with non-profit organizations, all levels of government, Indigenous organizations and First Nations, and private industry to examine social and economic opportunities to develop collaborative, sustainable, and unique community and housing solutions. We offer flexible scopes of work and fees to meet our client’s needs; our project and partners’ success is our absolute priority and our daily motivation.

Jeff Zukiwsky is a Senior Resilience Advisor with over 15 years’ experience working in the climate adaptation field. His experience includes work with various governments, communities, and organizations to conduct strategic climate risk and vulnerability assessments and develop and implement climate resilience strategies. Jeff also specializes in tourism, recreation and land use planning.