MRSC has joined with Phil Olbrechts, Attorney, Ogden Murphy Wallace, Pat Dugan, Dugan Consulting Services, Anindita Mitra, founder of CREÄ Affiliates, LLC, and Bob Bengford, Partner, MAKERS, to bring you the "Planning Advisor" article series on planning and growth management issue affecting Washington Local Governments. The "Planning Advisor" will feature a new article each month with timely information and advice you can use.*

This page contains the current and all previous Planning Advisor articles:

• A Hybrid Approach to Form-Based Codes in the Northwest, By Bob Bengford, MAKERS, January 2010
• The Invisible Player in Climate Change - Part 1: Making Sense of the Science, By Anindita Mitra, AICP, August 2009
• Addicted to Growth? Fiscal Realities and Community Development, By Pat Dugan, Dugan Consulting Services, April 2009
• The Most Significant Land Use Case of 2008, Maybe, Although We’re Not Sure Because No One Knows What it Means, By Phil Olbrechts, Attorney, Ogden Murphy Wallace, December 2008
• Costs of Sprawl and Related Conundrums, By Pat Dugan, Dugan Consulting Services, October 2008
• Finance Industry and Climate Change: Potential Implications for Cities and Counties, By Anindita Mitra, AICP, CREÄ Affiliates, LLC, August 2008
• Can't Always Trust those RCW's: The Problems with Mandatory Pre-Application Conferences, By Phil Olbrechts, Attorney, Ogden Murphy Wallace, July 2008
• Shaping Growth: Using Capital Facilities to Implement Comprehensive Plans, By Pat Dugan, Dugan Consulting Services, April 2008
• Recent Trends in State Legislation Affecting Affordable Housing, By Arthur Sullivan, Program Manager, ARCH, February 2008
• Time is Money, By Phil Olbrechts, Attorney, Ogden Murphy Wallace, October 2007
• The Capital Facilities Balancing Act, By Pat Dugan, Dugan Consulting Services, October 2007
• Urban Renewal - Part 2: Public Sector Investments / Private Sector Response, By Mark Hinshaw, Director of Urban Design, LMN Architects, June 2007
• The Third Promise of the Growth Management Act, By Pat Dugan, Dugan Consulting Services, April 2007
• Land Use Hamlet: Hearing or not a Hearing?, By Phil Olbrechts, Attorney, Ogden Murphy Wallace, March 2007
• Urban Renewal - Part 1: Painful Lessons and Failed Experiments, By Mark Hinshaw, Director of Urban Design, LMN Architects, January 2007

Pat Dugan has a unique combination of experience in both planning and public finance, spanning 35 years. As a planner, he has been a planning director in two cities (Auburn and Burien), and two regional planning agencies in Oregon and Washington; and was a planning manager in Goleta, California. In public finance, Pat has served as the chief financial officer in four public agencies including the Cities of Auburn and Lynnwood, and the Snohomish County Public Works Department. He has written extensively on financing capital facility programs and on public finance for planners. Pat now offers planning and public finance consulting services and in his own firm, Dugan Consulting Services in Everett and can be reached at consult.dugan@verizon.net.

Anindita Mitra, AICP is the Founder of CREÄ Affiliates, LLC a planning and urban design consultancy that focuses on creating awareness of unsustainable practices, and offers a platform for affected parties to openly communicate and collaborate to arrive at creative sustainable solutions. She is also one of the Co-Chairs of the Climate and Sustainability Initiative of the Washington Chapter of the American Planning Association. Anindita's current interests include the development of sustainable master plans and streetscape designs; establishing sustainable community indicators and their integration into comprehensive plans and governance; identifying creative solutions directing communities towards energy-independence; preparing communities for the challenges potentially brought upon by the Climate Change phenomenon; and advancing the integration of transit and non-motorized travel solutions into community land use planning. She has worked throughout the United States for both the public and private sectors.

Phil Olbrechts is a member (similar to partner) and elected member of the board of directors of Ogden, Murphy, Wallace, LLC. Phil focuses his practice on land use law and currently represents seven municipalities as either City Attorney or Hearing Examiner. He has taught over a dozen credits of land use law at the University of Washington, has taught numerous land use continuing legal education courses and has made over 200 land use presentations to elected and appointed officials throughout Washington State. Phil has served on the Seattle Planning Commission and in the past served as the Planning Director for two municipalities.

Bob Bengford, AICP, is a Partner with MAKERS architecture, planning and urban design firm. Bob's community design work encompasses all transects, from urban downtowns and transit-oriented development to rural area planning. Since joining MAKERS 13 years ago, Bob's specialty has been helping communities craft usable development regulations and design guidelines. The combination of growing up in a sprawling Orange County (CA) track home subdivision, reviewing development plans against antiquated and inconsistent codes in rural Bonner County (ID), and working with a great mentor at MAKERS (John Owen) have helped Bob recognize the critical importance of good development regulations and design guidelines in shaping vital and healthy communities. As a resident of Bellevue, Bob has been active in various community planning issues. He's also an active four-season bicycle commuter, hiker, gardener, and urban explorer.

*The Articles appearing in the "Planning Advisor" column represent the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Municipal Research & Services Center.