2004 National Planning Award Winners

The American Planning Association's annual awards honor the most outstanding efforts in the art, science, and profession of city and regional planning. In 2004, more than 190 entries were received with only one winner selected in each category.

The 2004 recipients were honored at the National Planning Conference in Washington, D.C., in ceremonies on Monday, April 26, and Tuesday, April 27. The winners are:

AICP National Planning Landmarks Award
Niagara Reservation State Park
By the mid-1800s European settlers transformed the area surrounding Niagara Falls from a pristine wilderness to a site dominated by commercial and industrial development. As early as 1834, it was suggested that the land near Niagara Falls be cleared of factories, hotels and signs so that the falls could be viewed in a natural setting. The idea received little support until novelist Henry James joined landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to spearhead the effort to establish an international park at the site. By 1883, their efforts won the endorsement of New York Gov. Grover Cleveland, who made the appropriation of lands for a state reservation one of his first acts after taking office. Today, Niagara Reservation State Park stands as a pioneering model of a coherent and unified approach to planning a public nature preserve.

2004 APA Outstanding Planning Awards
Outstanding Planning Award for a Plan
Urban Design Framework for the Near Southeast (Washington, D.C.)
For most of the past century, the banks of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., have been dominated by large industrial and governmental uses. In 2000, Mayor Anthony Williams established the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative as a partnership between the District of Columbia and 18 federal agencies who own or have jurisdiction over the lands along the river. Their goal: transform the city's forgotten riverfront to a gem that would rival any urban waterfront in the world. The collaborative efforts of the mayor's initiative and dozens of neighborhood action meetings resulted in the Urban Design Framework. The plan provides a vision of the river as a vibrant new waterfront neighborhood with 4,200 new housing units, 41 acres of new open space, and more than 14 million square feet of office and retail space. Also envisioned is a water-oriented public open space with unobstructed access created by extending existing streets and view corridors to the river.

Outstanding Planning Award for a Small Town or Rural Community
Farmersville General Plan (Farmersville, California)
A small community in California's San Joaquin Valley, Farmersville is considered by the American Farmland Trust as the most threatened agricultural region in the country. Against a backdrop of high unemployment, low incomes, and distrust between various segments of the community, the Farmersville City Council undertook its General Plan update through the year 2025.

After two and half years of public involvement, the city adopted policies that will maximize the efficient use of land and ensure that Farmersville remains separate from neighboring communities. The general plan update uses innovative features and smart growth planning techniques, including an industrial area specific plan that addresses the community's high unemployment rate. The plan also calls for establishing a farmland impact fee that will be assessed against new development. Funds will be used to purchase agricultural easements on prime farmland outside the city's borders.

Outstanding Planning Award for a Program
Chesterfield Township TDR Program (Chesterfield Township, New Jersey)
Farmland preservation has been a priority in Chesterfield Township, a sparsely developed agricultural community in central New Jersey, since the 1970s. In 2002, the township adopted a unique Transfer of Development Rights program.

With funding from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Chesterfield commissioned the conceptual design of the Planned Village according to Traditional Neighborhood Development principles — the planning principles by which historic American settlements evolved. The township's transfer of development rights program requires that development within the Planned Village correspond to development credits transferred from agricultural lands surrounding the village. Rather than using a zoning district within which developers could pursue their individual developments, Chesterfield took the unique approach of creating the physical plan for the village, which ensures compatibility between individual parcels and the surrounding farmlands and hamlets.

Outstanding Planning Award for Implementation
Presidio Trust Management Plan (San Francisco)
Once the nation's oldest military base, the Presidio was established as a national park in 1994. Two years later Congress established the Presidio Trust as a government corporation to preserve and operate the almost 1,200 interior acres and to use the park's building assets to fund the rehabilitation and capital improvements. The Presidio Trust Management Plan seeks to balance preservation of resources with the need to generate revenue and meet the needs of the thousands of yearly park visitors. An intricate balance of urban and park planning, the plan applies principles of smart growth to the base's built environment while preserving significant amounts of open space in the midst of a densely populated urban area. Since 1998, $138 million has been invested to fund park improvements and operations of which $106 million was generated through the leasing of almost 750,000 square feet of rehabilitated non-residential space.

Outstanding Planning Award for a Special Community Initiative
Lower Town Neighborhood Plan and Artist Relocation Program (Paducah, Kentucky)
For decades Lower Town, a neighborhood adjacent to downtown Paducah, Kentucky, remained dilapidated. In 2002, however, after extensive neighborhood participation, Paducah's City Commission adopted a plan to redevelop the blighted areas through aggressive code enforcement, flexible zoning techniques and protection of historical design. An historical mixed-use zone was established so business and residential uses could occur in the same area, much as they did at the turn of the 20th century. With financial incentives offered by the Paducah Bank, the city recruited 32 new artist-residents to the neighborhood. Today, property values continue to rise and the neighborhood's image is changing. New art-related businesses are springing up, and tourists now walk or drive through an area once thought unsafe.

Public Education Award
Reading the Land — Massachusetts Heritage Landscapes: A Guide to Identification and Protection
(Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation)
Heritage landscapes are those aspects of a town that make residents feel familiar, at home and part of the history of their community. Unfortunately, many of these unique places and spaces are not protected from development by any long-term legal mechanism. As part of its Heritage Landscape Inventory Program, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation developed Reading the Land — Massachusetts Heritage Landscapes: A Guide to Identification and Protection. The book is a valuable tool to help residents who are concerned about the changing character of their communities identify their town's most significant areas and use planning to ensure their lasting value.

The 2004 Department of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary's Opportunity & Empowerment Award
Wright-Dunbar Village Preservation and Redevelopment (Dayton, Ohio)
The neighborhood in West Dayton, Ohio, that nurtured the genius of the Wright Brothers and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar was once a thriving African-American community. In the past 50 years, however, highway construction, civil disturbances, insurance redlining and disinvestments have devastated the area. In 1992, the determination of two small groups of ordinary citizens — one black and one white — became the catalyst for the most aggressive urban revitalization effort to occur in Dayton's black community. Despite the city's best efforts to persuade them to sell their property, 24 long-term residents said "no." Along with a group of aviation enthusiasts, who in 1988 had vowed to stand in front of bulldozers to stop the city from tearing down several historic structures, the minority homeowners initiated a chain of events that led to the creation of a new national park and the revitalization of the Wright-Dunbar neighborhood. This unique undertaking coupled Dayton's aviation history with its African-American heritage to leverage over $75 million in economic and community development investments for a neighborhood that had suffered from racial segregation for decades.

Current Topic Award: "Parks and Public Lands"
Chambers Creek Properties Master Site Plan (Pierce County, Washington)
Situated on two miles of Puget Sound shoreline, Chambers Creek Properties is 930 acres of public land that once hosted a massive gravel mine. Larger than New York's Central Park, Chambers Creek offered an unparalleled opportunity to reclaim the site to host a broad mix of public uses. The reclamation effort included a public charrette and planning process that was so successful that it led a group of citizens to form the Chambers Creek Foundation to assist with fund-raising, advocate for the site plan, and partner with the county and cities of University Place and Lakewood on the plan's implementation. Using quality design standards, native plant restoration and sustainable development practices, the project returned a virtual moonscape to biological productivity. Besides acres of open space, there are 10 miles of nature trails, two public piers, a boat launch, ball fields, a golf course, beaches, and an arboretum. Uses and facilities at the reclaimed site also provide a source of revenue for park operations.

National Social Advocacy Award (in honor of Paul Davidoff)
Lapham Park Venture (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Lapham Park, a low-income public housing development in Milwaukee, is the first assisted-living facility within a public housing development in the nation. More than 30 percent of its residents are over 70 years old, 98 percent are African-American, and over 74 percent of have a median annual income of less than $8,000. Faced with an ever-shrinking pool of resources and a growing demand to meet the healthcare needs of elderly residents, stakeholders formed the Lapham Park Venture to bring together practitioners in planning, housing, gerontology, and social services to provide on-site integrated care. The housing authority raised over $1.3 million in a capital campaign to renovate the building's basement to evoke the atmosphere and character of a 1930s streetscape. The clinical space incorporates storefronts of the 1930s and includes exam rooms, a pharmacy, therapeutic bathing space, an exercise gym, and doctors' offices. Through aggressive advocacy and collaborative planning, Lapham Park Venture is saving over $1 million annually in Medicaid nursing home costs and providing a continuum of care that allows elderly residents to remain in their own homes.

National Women in Planning Award (in honor of Diana Donald)
Laura C. Johnson, MCIP
Throughout her long and distinguished career as a social planner and University of Waterloo, Ontario, planning professor, Laura C. Johnson has explored community supports for employed women and their families. Johnson's studies of child care services, alternative work environments, and family-friendly workplaces and communities have provided critical resources for advocates on behalf of women. Her 2003 book, The Co-Workplace, is a fascinating account of the historical perspective on home-based work and is beginning to change policies on parental leave and the availability of alternative work environments in Canada and around the world.

Daniel Burnham Award
Chicago Metropolis 2020
In 1999, the Commercial Club of Chicago, a civic group comprising the city's most prominent business leaders and the same group that hired Daniel Burnham to create his famous 1909 Plan of the city, created Chicago Metropolis 2020. This new nonprofit organization was charged with implementing the Club's 2000 report, "Preparing Metropolitan Chicago for the 21st Century."

The Metropolis Plan is the region's first integrated land-use and transportation plan since Daniel Burnham's groundbreaking plan nearly 100 years ago. The Metropolis Plan embraces new ideas and historic planning principles to present a beautiful vision of regional economic growth coupled with a better quality of life. Chicago Metropolis 2020 pioneered new techniques in public participation, modeling, and scenario development to analyze the effects of current development practices and future alternatives. The group then tapped the creativity of more than 1,000 community, business, government, and labor leaders who participated in mapping workshops to create a common vision for the region and develop strategies for its realization. Community leaders helped map where development is needed to create jobs and enhance social equity. Over 100 business leaders have stepped forward and pledged to give substantial weight to accessible, affordable housing and mass transit for their employees when deciding where to expand or relocate.

Distinguished Leadership Award for an Elected Official
Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (Delaware)
Shortly after assuming office, Gov. Ruth Ann Minner put sprawl at the top of her agenda by spearheading the Livable Delaware program. She issued Executive Order 14, requiring state agencies to review their policies and revise them to be consistent with the Livable Delaware plan. She also was instrumental in the passage of House Bill 255 that requires local jurisdictions to have comprehensive plans certified by the governor as meeting specific criteria and implemented through local ordinances within 18 months of their adoption. As a result, nearly 90 percent of Delaware's local jurisdictions are in the process of updating or implementing certified comprehensive plans.

Distinguished Leadership Award for a Professional Planner
Barbara Lukermann, FAICP
Barbara Lukerman's influence on the planning profession is remarkable. In 1978 she served on the committee that developed the first certification exam for the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). The following year she became the first chairperson of AICP. A life-long resident of Minnesota, she has been appointed by the governor to bring her planning expertise to many influential boards. Nationally, she has worked on the National Academy of Sciences steering committee for the Cooperative Agreement with the Navajo Nation, and internationally she has been a delegate for the Municipal Planning Board of China and a trainer for USAID environmental programs in Romania. Lukermann has amassed more than 40 publication credits during her career and made significant contributions to the canon of planning knowledge.

Distinguished Leadership Award for a Student Planner
Michael Jay Boettcher
Wayne State University's Michael Boettcher is among the school's top-performing students in the Master's Program in Urban Planning, even while holding down a full-time job as a principal planner in the City of Detroit Planning and Development Department. Boettcher's enquiries into the economic development implications of inter-modal freight terminals are contributing to local discussions on the revitalization of Detroit. He has been active in organizing a network of current students and alumni through Wayne State's Student Urban Planners Group and has coordinated Planners Night Out, a monthly gathering of planners and those interested in urban development. Through his exemplary scholarship and contribution to planning education, Michael Boettcher is a model example of distinguished leadership for a student planner.

Distinguished Leadership Award for a Citizen Planner
Andrea Mead Lawrence
Andrea Mead Lawrence has been a champion since the 1952 Olympics, where she made history as the only U.S. athlete to ever win two gold metals in ski racing at a single Olympics. Ever since, she has used her celebrity to champion planning and protection of the natural environment. She helped found the Sierra Nevada Regional Initiative to enhance the quality of land use planning in the Eastern Sierra region of California. From 1983 to 1999 she served as a Supervisor of Mono County, California, and represented the county before the U.S. Congress to win support for protection of the region's pristine wilderness. In 2001, she won the Havoline Star Award in recognition of her contributions to the protection of the Sierra environment. She donated the $10,000 award to be split between the Eastern Sierra Trust and the Mono Lake Committee, two conservation organizations on which she serves. Her leadership as founder of Friends of Mammoth led to one of California's most significant environmental planning lawsuits requiring the application of the California Environmental Quality Act on all private development in the state. For her championship of good planning throughout her remarkable lifetime, APA honors Andrea Mead Lawrence with the Distinguished Leadership Award for a Citizen Planner.

2004 Legislators of the Year
Sen. John Warner
Late last year, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved legislation to reauthorize the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican, led the fight on behalf of good planning. He won a major increase in the resources for planning directed to metropolitan planning organizations. Warner persuaded his colleagues of the importance of more funding. "With each passing year, our urban areas are called on to do more and more transportation planning and environmental analysis," Sen. Warner said. "The latest census data show that 42 new areas will have to share in the funding provided in the bill. That means potentially less funding for our current areas." The measure was narrowly adopted and surely would have gone down to defeat without his efforts.

2004 Legislators of the Year
Sen. Barbara Mikulski
Sen. Mikulski has been an advocate for affordable housing, healthy neighborhoods, and livable communities for more than three decades. It was her resolve to protect Baltimore's Fells Point neighborhood from plans to build a 16-lane highway through family businesses and homes that launched the former social worker's political career. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 after serving 10 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. Sen. Mikulski is probably best known for creating and sponsoring the HOPE VI program, which aims to improve living conditions for residents of public housing by replacing neighborhoods containing distressed, high-rise units with mixed-income and mixed-use homes and stores.

2004 Legislators of the Year
Rep. Doug Bereuter
When Rep. Doug Bereuter, AICP, went to Congress in 1979, the Harvard-educated Nebraskan was the only certified planner then serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. Late last year, Rep. Bereuter, a Republican, announced his intention to retire at the end of this Congress. Through 25 years on Capitol Hill, he has been a valued member of APA and AICP and a strong advocate for good planning in federal policy. He is the longest serving Nebraskan and the longest serving planner in the history of the House. Bereuter has played an integral role in shaping foreign and domestic policy, rising to senior leadership positions on both the International Relations and Financial Services committees. His background as a planner and educator is evident in his legislative accomplishments in housing, transportation, economic development, infrastructure, and natural resources policy.

APA Journalism Awards
Large Newspapers (circulation above 100,000)
Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colorado
For "Running Dry," a series by reporters Lou Kilzer, Jerd Smith, Burt Hubbard, and Deborah Frazier about declining groundwater levels in the region and the inadequate response by public officials.

APA Journalism Awards
Medium Newspapers (circulation between 50,000 and 100,000)
The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, California
For the series "Smog: A Growing Concern" by staff writer Matt Weiser, who looked at the extent of air pollution in the region and ways to clean up the air, including the adoption of smart growth measures.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Corpus Christi, Texas (Honorable Mention)
For the five-day series by reporter Neal Falgoust, "Changing Bayfront," about a charrette held to create a blueprint for the city's waterfront area.

APA Journalism Awards
Small Newspapers (circulation under 50,000)
The Poughkeepsie Journal, Poughkeepsie, New York
For "Valley Water Under Siege," a five-part editorial series about polluted water supplies in Dutchess County written by editorial page editor John Penney, and another series titled "The Valley Tomorrow."

Journal of the American Planning Association Award
Best Article
Robert Cervero
"Road Expansion, Urban Growth, and Induced Travel: A Path Analysis"

AICP Student Project Awards
Applying the Planning Process
University of Buffalo
"Towards a Smart Growth Master Plan: Assessment and Recommendations for the Town of Porter, New York"
Dr. Ute Lehrer, Advisor
Fida Abdel Latif; Brian Gatewood; Fredy Rodriguez Gutierrez; Amy Kacala; Joel Kleinberg; Hui-En (Grace) Lee; Nnabuihe Maduakolam; Karen Palmer; Seokhoon Shim; Brian Slack; Mark Territo; Katherine Wagner; Robert Wisener; Ji Zhang

Honorable Mention
Georgia Tech — "Fort Valley: Making Connections"
Texas A&M — "City of Palacios, Texas, Design Plan"

AICP Student Project Awards
Contribution of Planning to Contemporary Issues
University of Oregon
"Integrating Transportation and Land Use Planning: Outreach to Planning Commissioners"
Paul Bender, Carloyn Bonner, Jennifer Dill, Kathryn Frank, Bethany Johnson, Evan MacKenzie, John Mermin, Darren Muldoon, Tina Nunez, Robert Parker, Michelle Pezley, Mike Rose, Paul Seilo, Rachel Warner

Honorable Mention
The Ohio State University — "University District Code Enforcement: An Assessment and Recommendations for Improvement"
Portland State University — "Wildlife Crossings: Rethinking Road Design to Improve Safety and Reconnect Habitat"

AICP Student Project Awards
Applied Research
"Save Ammendorf!"
Kate Zidar
Pratt Institute Graduate Center

AICP President's Award
Planners Network
For three decades Planners Network, a nonprofit organization in Brooklyn, New York, has been a progressive voice for professionals, academics, students, and activists concerned with urban planning and social and environmental justice. Through conferences, a website, and other programs, the Network works to promote political and economic change.

Karen B. Smith Chapter Awards
Overall Chapter Achievement
Oregon Chapter
During the past year the Oregon Chapter of APA has undertaken an ambitious public outreach effort to inform residents about planning and important land-use issues. A slide presentation, "Telling the Oregon Story," was developed for members who, to date, have given some 50 presentations to approximately one thousand people. Also last year former legislator Stephen Kafoury was hired as the chapter's legislative liaison. Kafoury, the chapter's Legislative and Policy Affairs Committee, and chapter members were successful in helping the state assembly adopt several good planning-related bills while defeating others that were detrimental to planning.

Karen B. Smith Chapter Awards
Outstanding Service to Members
New Mexico Chapter
Through its newsletter, website, and programs, the New Mexico Chapter of APA is helping its membership make planning succeed in the Land of Enchantment. By converting to an electronic newsletter format, the money saved on printing and postage can be used to provide a chapter member with a stipend for editing the monthly report. The chapter also has a website that is kept fresh and up-to-date. Other chapter activities that benefit members include an annual state conference, ongoing efforts to secure new planning legislation and reforms, an annual awards program, a membership directory, AICP exam preparation sessions, and student scholarships.

APA Distinguished Service Award
Connie B. Cooper, FAICP
Connie B. Cooper is honored for 28 years of planning experience and contributions to APA, having served both as President of APA and President of the Alabama Chapter of APA, Chair of the Chapter Presidents Council, and as a member of the APA Board of Directors and numerous APA committees. She has authored two Planners Advisory Service reports and currently serves as President of the American Society of Consulting Planners (ASCP).

For more information on APA's National Planning Awards program, contact APA at 202-872-0611 or e-mail AwardsProgram@planning.org.