APA's National Planning Excellence and Achievement Awards honor the best planning efforts and individuals that create communities of lasting value. The 2014 award recipients were honored at a special luncheon held during APA's National Planning Conference.
National Planning Excellence Awards
Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan
Cincinnati, Ohio
Winston — Salem / Forsyth County, North Carolina
The HUD Secretary's Opportunity & Empowerment Award
Anchorage, Alaska
National Planning Excellence Award for a Best Practice
Tigard, Oregon
National Planning Excellence Award for a Grassroots Initiative
Mid-Columbia Basin, Washington
National Planning Excellence Award for Implementation
Detroit, Michigan
National Planning Excellence Award for a Communications Initiative
Los Angeles, California
National Planning Excellence Award for Transportation Planning
Hawaii
National Planning Excellence Award for Environmental Planning
Broward County, Florida
National Planning Excellence Award for Economic Development & Planning
Columbus, Ohio
National Planning Excellence Award for Urban Design
Brooklyn, New York
The Pierre L'Enfant International Planning Excellence Award
Beijing, China
National Planning Excellence Award for a Planning Advocate
Gretna, Louisiana
National Planning Excellence Award for an Emerging Planning & Design Firm
Chicago, Illinois
National Planning Excellence Award for a Planning Agency
Tallahassee, Florida
National Planning Award for a Planning Pioneer
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
National Planning Award for a Planning Landmark
United Kingdom
2014 Awards Jury
The jury is tasked with reviewing all of the award entries and identifying the ones worthy of receiving a national honor and recognition.
Jury Chair
Ann C. Bagley, FAICP
Ann Cooke Bagley, FAICP, a community planner and consultant, has long focused on comprehensive plans, park development, and training planning commissioners. A practicing planner for more than 30 years, she has worked in both the public and private sector primarily for small to medium size cities. Bagley currently serves on the national board of the American Planning Association as a board member elected at large and as the Planning Official Development Officer for APA Texas. She is completing her fourth term on the Dallas City Plan Commission where she is chair of the Transportation committee and on the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee.
Jury Member
Donald Burns, AICP
Donald Burns is a community planner for the Federal Transit Administration, where he has worked for more than a decade. As a community planner, he has worked on some of the largest transit projects in the region: East Side Access, Fulton Street Transit Center, South Ferry Terminal Station, World Trade Center Permanent PATH Station, and Access to the Region's Core. He previously worked for Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., an environmental engineering concern and as a planner for the Office of the Bronx Borough President where he worked on land use and transportation issues. He has served on the boards of the Neighborhood Open Space Coalition and the Montessori Day School of Brooklyn. Burns is the immediate past president of the APA New York Metro Chapter and is currently serving on the APA Divisions Council — Chapter President's Council Task Force of Aging. He earned a BA in Public Affairs from SUNY-Albany and a Master of Urban Planning from CUNY-Hunter College.
Jury Member
Armando Carbonell, AICP
Armando Carbonell is the Senior Fellow and Chairman of the Department of Planning and Urban Form for the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. His areas of expertise include city and regional planning, property rights and regulation, and land use and the environment. He also teaches planning at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to his appointment to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Carbonell was the founding Executive Director of the Cape Cod Commission, a regional planning and land use regulatory agency. Carbonell received his A.B. degree from Clark University and was a Doctoral Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University and a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University.
Jury Member
Regina Gray
Regina Gray is an analyst for the Division of Affordable Housing Research and Technology Division in the Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) at the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development. Since joining HUD in 2000, her research activities have focused on sustainable development, urban design and land use planning, transit oriented development, energy and green building practices, and affordable housing preservation. Beyond her work at HUD, Gray collaborates with other federal agencies on a host of sustainability initiatives, and is actively involved in these interagency efforts. Gray holds a bachelor's degree from Emory University, a master's degree from the George Washington University, and a doctorate from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Jury Member
Gil Kelley, AICP
Gil Kelley is the Senior Vice President of Development for Harsch Investment Properties. Prior to joining Harsch, he was principal of Gil Kelley & Associates, Urban and Strategic Planning. There he provided local and regional governments with strategic planning advice on sustainable urban development, partnership formation, and organizational development. He previously served as the Director of Planning for the City of Portland for nine years where he oversaw the city's planning, coordinated key development initiatives and codirected strategic planning. Prior, he was the Director of Planning and Development for the City of Berkeley for 14 years.
Jury Member
Paul Rookwood, AICP
Paul Rookwood's professional career spans from planning and design to real estate development. Born in England, he studied and worked in the United Kingdom before moving to the U.S. in the mid-80s to earn a master's degree at the University of Pennsylvania. He worked at WRT for 20 years on a wide range of projects throughout the U.S. and abroad. He served as Managing Principal of the firm from 2000 through 2007 when he moved to Toronto to join one of Canada's leading real estate development companies. Most recently Paul has returned to the consulting world, joining AECOM, a global consultancy providing tailored and integrated solutions to the complex challenges of the built, natural, and social environment. He taught for seven years in the city planning program at the University of Pennsylvania and has served on numerous professional boards and committees.
Jury Member
Nancy Somerville
Nancy Somerville is the executive vice president and CEO of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). Since joining the Society in August 2000, she has expanded ASLA's public relations programs, increased ASLA's presence on Capitol Hill, and enabled the Society to become a more effective advocate on sustainability, community planning, transportation, and land use issues. She directs the Society's ongoing green roof education and advocacy programs, as well as ASLA's participation as a founding partner in the Sustainable Sites Initiative™. She joined ASLA after 18 years with the American Institute of Architects, where she served as managing director and vice president of program areas including membership, government affairs, chapter relations, community development, and continuing education. She holds a B.A. from Princeton University and an M.A. from Stanford University.
Jury Member
Angela Vincent
Angela Vincent is a Sustainability Project Manager for VHB, Inc. based in Watertown, MA. In this role, Angela works with over 60 communities, primarily in New York and Massachusetts, to support and advance their climate protection and sustainability efforts. Angela is working with the Climate Smart Communities program to provide technical assistance such as trainings, resource guides, in-person guidance, and webinars to local governments in the Capital District and Mid-Hudson Region. In Massachusetts she is coordinating the public outreach for and development of the Greenfield Sustainable Master Plan in Greenfield, MA. As a volunteer, Angela is the Chair of the Lowell Green Restaurant Certification Program, which she helped to create in 2011 and is a Board Member for the American Planning Association.