Unalaska, Alaska, To Receive Assistance from Volunteer Planning Team

For Immediate Release: May 12, 2014
Contact: Ryan Scherzinger, APA, 202.730.5177; [email protected]

Unalaska, Alaska, To Receive Assistance from Volunteer Planning Team

CHICAGO-A five-member volunteer planning team is traveling to Unalaska, Alaska, to assist the community with its community engagement efforts in conjunction with its land use planning process. The team will work with community members including the native village corporation, the Ounalashka Corporation May 19 - 23.

The team is part of the American Planning Association’s professional institute’s Community Planning Assistance Teams Program, which helps communities with limited planning resources and also brings a fresh perspective to local communities. Through the program, teams of professional planners are matched with communities requesting assistance on a variety of planning topics such as sustainability, economic development, transportation, and housing.

For the last 30 years, Unalaska’s economy has been based primarily on commercial fishing, seafood processing, fleet services and marine transportation. Focus is now shifting to additional economic opportunities, including staging and support industries related to oil exploration and production. The team will assist with community engagement efforts in conjunction with the development of the city’s planning efforts. With the limited amount of flat ground readily accessible for development, the team will provide additional expertise in port planning, housing, and the unique needs of the oil industry.

 “Unalaska is a vibrant and diverse community with amazing beauty, rich cultural history and numerous natural resources.  With a combination of community engagement and the breadth of knowledge that this team brings, we will better equipped to create a sustainable future for the families and businesses that call this island home,” explains Erin Williamson Reinders, AICP, Planning Director for the City of Unalaska.

The Unalaska Community Planning Assistance Team will be led by Roger Wagoner, FAICP, director of community design with BHC Consultant LLC. Team members include:

Greg Easton, with nearly 40 years’ of experience in providing economic consulting services related to economic and community development in the Pacific Northwest region and elsewhere;

Thomas Kurkowski, operations lead at the Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning (SNAP);

Shelly Wade, AICP, staff member of Agnew::Beck skilled in facilitation; and

Majid Yavary, has more than 18 years of experience in port management and planning.

Over the course of the week, the team will tour the city and conduct interviews with a variety of leaders and residents. A public meeting will be held at 7:00pm on Monday, May 19, at the Burma Road Chapel. The team’s preliminary assessment will be presented at 6:00pm on Thursday, May 22, at the Burma Road Chapel. The final report with the team’s recommendations will be available this summer.

The community planning assistance team program was established in 1995. Previous teams have recently worked in Crestdale, North Carolina; Franklin, Tennessee; Slidell, Louisiana; and La Feria, Texas, among other locations.

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