CitySpaces is a leading provider of housing and community planning, development consulting, communications and consultation services in communities throughout Western Canada. For more than 30 years, we have been committed to “building lasting, livable communities,” with a spotlight on social sustainability. We take pride in providing strategic, practical advice to our clients in the government, business, institutional, and non-profit sectors, and bring exceptional experience in managing projects from vision to completion. CitySpaces operates from downtown locations in Vancouver and Victoria. We invite you to visit our website www.cityspaces.ca

I am a placemaker and emerging public artist inspired by nature to create thoughtful and creative public and private spaces. From initial project planning, to implementation, and specializing in community engagement, each project is designed specifically for your community's context. 

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 a Principal with CitySpaces Consulting, specializing in community planning, social policy, affordable housing, poverty reduction, needs analysis, feasibility studies, business plans, community engagement, research, and land use planning.

Jada is known for her inclusive and collaborative approach to planning processes. As a confident and energetic leader, she is adept at assessing complex social and community issues; creating tailor-made solutions that balance context, culture, and place. She has considerable experience in urban and inner cities, as well as small and rural communities given her experience working in small resource towns and having grown up in BC's interior. Her diverse background and natural curiosity are assets to public, private, and non-profit clients.

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.

I am a Registered Professional Planner with 25 years of experience in a diverse range of areas including land use and community planning, community‐based climate change mitigation and adaptation planning, asset management planning, and community safety planning. With a focus in engagement and policy development, I bring a climate lens to all project endeavours to increase community resiliency and adaptive capacity.   ISO 31000 Provisional Risk Manager Certificate.   Professional Certificate in Asset Mgmt Planning, IPWEA.  Areas of Specialization: asset management; climate change adaptation / community resiliency; community safety planning

I bring process capabilities of Collaboration, Connecting, Silo-busting and Experimentation along with my content knowledge of Social Policy, Equity & Well-Being; Sustainability; Resilience & Social Connectedness; Healthy Built Environments; Social Innovation and Cross-Sectoral Collaborations. 

I can offer assistance through the following services: Research & Policy-writing; Process Facilitation and Engagement; Strategy Development; Implementation/Action Planning; Program Development.

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.

Craig serves as an Advisor on WSP’s Climate Risk and Resilience team. He has seven years of experience guiding environmental, sustainability, and land use planning for public and private sector clients. He has a holistic understanding of climate change planning issues, and specialized knowledge in climate risk and resilience planning. 

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.

Located in the heart of the Okanagan Valley, Kettle Valley provides professional services to rural communities in the Southern Interior region of British Columbia and throughout Western Canada. We can provide your community and municipal administration with planning and project management expertise that is tailored to the unique challenges faced by small communities operating on fixed budgets.

Small local governments are continually looking for new ways to increase efficiencies, reduce costs, and plan for the future, but are fiscally challenged to hire full-time professional staff or large, specialized consulting firms from the lower mainland. Kettle Valley is able to work collaboratively with these local government clients, provide specialized professional services, identify needs, and project manage larger consulting teams (if required) for specific projects. 

Kettle Valley also provides land use planning and economic development project management, and development application support services, to provincial government ministries, not-for-profit community organizations, and private clients.

As a Community Planner, Liliana has over 13 years of experience working in local governments and the private sector as well as with non-profit organizations. She is passionate about designing and facilitating creative community consultation processes that encourage positive conversations and action. 

Liliana is based in Smithers BC and is driven by her passion for connecting with nature, people, and new ideas. Liliana operates as a sole proprietor collaborating with dynamic and skilled professionals on small to medium-sized community planning projects.

Professional Planner, Professional Forester, Certified arborist, Honourary Life Member International Society of Arboriculture. Specialising in land use planning and tree / forestry issues, tree risk assessment and management. Author of Trees and the Law in Canada, Dictionary of Natural Resource Management , and many other publications. Details at www.dunster.ca  and www.treelaw.info. Over thirty years of consulting experience worldwide.

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. 

I am a practicing Registered Professional Planner, specializing in the area of housing policy and planning.  

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.  

M’akola Development Services provides a receptive approach focused on building housing the local community is proud of. We provide personalized services to each of our clients, who are located across British Columbia, to ensure their interests and the interests of those they represent move forward. We achieve this through hands on methods and by engaging our clients in all stages of development.

Our approach is based on an end-users perspective and is community oriented. An integral part of our work is philanthropic – building lasting relationships and giving back to the local community, through an array of meaningful avenues.

Katy is a Registered Professional Planner with over ten years’ experience in the public and non-profit sector. Her previous work includes work as a City Planner in a BC municipality as well as working with an economic development trust providing planning capacity to northern and remote communities in planning.

Katy has a Masters Degree in Planning from the University of Waterloo (2019), and a Bachelors Degree in Planning from the University of Northern British Columbia (2013) with a focus in Northern and Rural Community Development.

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.

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.

Monty has been a Professional Planner in BC for over 20 years.  I currently specialize First Nations Governance, Law and Policy development, and Land Code development.  I have worked with Treaty and Pre-Treaty Nations, as well as Operational and Transitional Land Code Nations.  I have a wide range of Planning expertise, from working with all levels of Government to hosting dinner table meetings with local residents.  I currently work on Vancouver Island, but can offer my services throughout BC.  

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.

We can always strive to be self-reliant, and this is of value in our lives, however there is without a doubt that we need others. Let’s be both real and open to this. Let’s truly build real communities. Let’s build resilient ones, and let’s start with our self. We cannot build anything truly resilient without first building the healthiest and most resilient foundation for ourselves. True resiliency can be defined by the power of recovery; resistance to adversity.

Planning for resilience in our communities does not mean planning to withstand events that result from change. Planning for resilience means working to understand the potential shocks and stresses our communities will face as a result of change-related events and planning to ensure that our communities can continue to function, operate and thrive despite them. We can build resilience over time by changing how we process negative events. True resilience can be strengthened by expressing gratitude for the good things in our lives. Through capacity awareness practices we can develop resilient capacity-building strategies together.

With the development of courageous communication techniques, we can approach building resilient relationships and communities sustainably. And through the application of all of this awareness we can go out into our communities to consult and access the true stories that really matter to foster and achieve resilience for all. 

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.

With experience, attention to detail, clear communications, and creativity, Very Coast Planning and Design specializes in:

• community planning, policy and bylaw creation;
• community presentations and public engagement;
• development planning: from site analysis to government processes for rezoning, permits and subdivisions; and, 
• accessibility  design. 
  
   

Meraki Community Planning is a full-service community planning firm specializing in long range planning and community engagement. 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 - community members and stakeholders early and often in community planning projects.  We are a relationship-based company focused on building healthy, sustainable communities by balancing social, economic, cultural and environmental values.

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.

Dynamic Community Planning is based out of Prince George, B.C. Hillary Morgan (MCIP RPP) is the Principal of Dynamic Community Planning and has been living, planning, and playing in the north since 2013. Hillary is an energetic planner who enjoys working with communities to tackle complex planning challenges.  Hillary provides services in development planning, community and stakeholder engagement, community planning and policy development, and group facilitation.  More information is available at www.dynamicplan.ca. 

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.

Cian is a planner and engineer-in-training with experience in community planning and development, transportation planning, and infrastructure capital planning and design. He has coordinated a range of projects including infrastructure master plans, regional transportation planning studies, and conceptual and detailed designs.

Cian has experience engaging with stakeholders from public sector senior management to local youth and is dedicated to promoting social equity and environmental restoration through healthy and sustainable community development.

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.

Odete has 20 years experience in managing development approvals and planning processes for municipalities and development clients. Since 2014, Odete has been supporting multifamily residential developers with services including feasibility, securing land, site planning, and approvals to building permit stage. Odete’s practice includes project managing complex projects with multiple stakeholders, consultations and agency reviews.

TAMIM IS A DEDICATED URBANIST WITH TWO DECADES OF EXPERIENCE SHAPING THE STRATEGIC AGENDA IN CITIES.

He brings leadership vision and skill as a strategic planner and always maintains a keen focus on driving to long-term objectives.

Tamim has strong business and political acumen and is adept at advising executives, boards and elected officials to shepherd difficult decisions through their fiscal, community and political realities. He has a proven track record of successfully tackling the toughest of urban problems, while systematically and collaboratively working through complex stakeholder and decision environments to get to outcomes that work.

Tamim brings direct public agency experience and perspective to his advisory work. For more than 15 years he lead and directed project planning for complex transit and transportation infrastructure at TransLink. Tamim has also been an instructor in Simon Fraser University’s City Program since 2002. 

OUR FIRM

Valhalla Trails Ltd is a small-scale, multi-disciplinary consulting firm that has been offering a variety of technical and hands-on land use planning services including long range planning, development permit processing, site planning, community engagement, tourism, parks and trail planning and design services. Our clients include public and private land managers, first nations, land developers, private consultants, engineers, landscape architects and non-profit organizations.

LOCATION

Valhalla Trails Ltd. is primarily located in the seaside community of Cowichan Bay, just north of Victoria on Vancouver Island. From here, our work takes us around British Columbia, across Canada and to other parts of the world. With satellite offices in Nelson and Calgary we have been connected to some of the most innovative public and private planning and outdoor recreation projects in North America.

PLANNING

With over 20 years of experience, we are fully accredited members of the Canadian Institute of Planners and are passionate about implementing sound principles of environmental design to all of our projects. 

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.

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.

Tim Shah is a Senior Transportation Planner with WATT Consulting Group. Based in Victoria BC, Tim currently works with communities of all sizes across BC and Alberta on a range of transportation topics including parking management, active transportation planning and design, transit planning, electric vehicle / electric bike infrastructure planning, and transportation demand management. Tim has completed numerous parking studies across Vancouver Island and continues to advise municipalities, post-secondary institutions, and developers on how to incorporate transportation demand management strategies to reduce single occupancy vehicle travel and parking demand. Previously to his work as a consultant, Tim held research and policy positions with the University of British Columbia, the Pembina Institute, and with the Adaptation to Climate Change Team (ACT) at SFU.

Tim is informed and passionate about climate policy and sustainable transportation. With this focus, Tim provides his clients with relevant and up-to-date leadership on electric vehicle (EV) and electric bike infrastructure planning. When working with municipal clients, Tim helps communities understand and develop policy related to EVs and e-bikes, and supports the planning of built infrastructure required to see the implementation through to a successful launch. Tim is also an experienced community and engagement facilitator, with training in the International Association of Public Participation methods, and has successfully led numerous public and stakeholder consultation processes.

Jessica is a professional planner with 10 years of experience working as a planner, project manager, and facilitator of plans and actions that aim to reduce climate and natural hazard risk and build resilience in Southwest BC. She has worked across all orders of government, the private and nonprofit sectors to connect the dots between best available climate projections, natural hazard science and open risk models and the proactive actions and finance required to reduce such risks at the local, regional, provincial and national scales.

Before starting her consultancy, Jessica led the development of the City of Vancouver Earthquake Strategy, where she advocated for and worked towards open, integrated, multi-hazard risk modelling and holistic policies for existing buildings to inform a city-wide approach to enhancing resilience.

She has worked with communities and on projects that have been recognized as leading edge by the United Nations (District of North Vancouver Sasakawa award), the federal government (Natural Resources Canada Award for Collaboration – DNV Community-wide Earthquake Risk Analysis), the Planning Institute of British Columbia (New Directions in Planning- Lower Mainland Flood Management Strategy) and the World Bank's Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (Understanding Risk Vancouver and BC).
 

Tegan Smith, MCP, RPP, MCIP is the founder of Channel Consulting. She has over 23 years planning and development experience. Her gifts are listening and connecting people and she prides herself on providing the most talented team in the industry to meet project needs.

Tegan is known for leading teams of subject matter experts to deliver complex and difficult projects. She brings an authentic and engaging style to help project teams have direct discussions, be adaptive, and effectively manage risks, costs, and timelines.

She is a member of the Canadian Institute of Planners and holds a master’s degree in City Planning.  Tegan is a respected member of the Vancouver real estate community, advisor in the Housing Professionals Mentorship Program, and Board member of Lambda Alpha International Vancouver Chapter.  She is a nominee for Vancouver Chapter Urban Land Institute’s 2021 Outstanding Leader Award.

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.

ECOllaborate Now 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. 

Brittany is a Registered Professional Planner in the Kelowna branch of Urban Systems Ltd. Since joining Urban Systems in 2017, Brittany has been involved in a range of municipal planning projects, including official community plan updates, parks master plans, development cost charge bylaws, zoning bylaw updates, and writing regulations for a number of municipal bylaws, such as property maintenance bylaws, traffic bylaws, and blasting bylaws, amongst others. Regulatory planning is her primary love in the profession. Brittany understands that each community is unique and utilizes an approach in her projects that will reflect the varying needs of the communities she works with.

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.

InterraPlan Inc. is a northeast-based planning and agrology consulting firm operating since 2001. Our work has been supporting rural, non-government organization clients, government and indigenous organizations with experience developing resource use, community development and watershed stewardship plans Highlights include foundation work on Treaty 8 Land Use Initiatives (BC), The Peel Watershed Regional  Land  Use Plan (YK) and the City of Dawson Watershed Stewardship Program.

I am a planning consultant based in Fernie, B.C., with 10 years experience working with communities across Western Canada on climate adaptation and risk management. I've worked with nearly 40 municipalities in BC and Alberta, supporting climate change risk and vulnerability assessments and development and implementation of climate adaptation and resilience action plans.