By: DENISE M. HARRIS, AICP

Sometimes I come upon a place that will ignite my senses. With so many sterile, cookie cutter sites in the country, I always find myself a little surprised as I stop to take in the details of the scene surrounding me trying to discern what makes this place different? Why is it special? These places can be on an intimate or grand scale, urban or rural environment. Yet they all seem to have one thing in common – they have the power to make me feel complete, make me belong and invite me to participate. It raises the question: what makes a place rise above the norm to something one wants to appreciate and absorb fully through sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste? I believe it comes down to one word. Design ...read more

By: Jeff Purdy and Valdis Lazdins, LSL Planning, Inc.

New-urbanism has attracted a great deal of interest in re-recreating traditional, walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods that have been lost in modern suburbs. As an outgrowth of this movement, form-based codes are the latest technique to support the development of such special places, and re-examine the underlying zoning principle of separating uses. ...read more

By: Trip Pollard, Southern Environmental Law Center Frances Stanley, Virginia Local Initiatives Support Corporation

The Southern Environmental Law Center and Virginia Local Initiatives Support Corporation have produced a new report that examines the links between affordable housing, transportation, and sprawl in the Richmond region – links that are critical to creating and maintaining healthy communities and that are of interest to planners statewide. ...read more

By: Jason Lee Beske, AICP VAPA Conference Chair

Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Savannah?
They all have one thing in common…they are all wonderfully planned cities. But when you think of these archetypes of city planning does Reston belong in the same hemisphere? The 2008 Conference of the Virginia Chapter of the American Planning Association will endeavor to answer this question. ...read more

News and notes from around the State of Virginia ...read more

By: Committee Co-Chair, Joseph Curtis, AICP

The Ethnic and Cultural Diversity Committee have been on hiatus since the VAPA Conference in Wintergreen, but plans to start 2008 with an ambitious schedule. At the Wintergreen conference, ECDC Co-Chair Joseph Curtis made a presentation on lessons learned from the Committee’s Education Initiative. The Initiative, which concluded its first year in June, was created to introduce youth to planning as a career choice. ...read more

By: A Report from the Tidewater Section Joseph Curtis, AICP

Section of the VAPA held one of its biggest events ever. The topics discussed at the event included “adapting historic venues to new and modern uses” and “how the City of Norfolk was emerging as a 24-hour city”. In terms of adapting historic venues, no venue was better suited than the Granby Theater, a Norfolk landmark for decades. The Granby Theater originally opened around 1915 as a vaudeville theater and later functioned as a movie theater before closing in 1985, and remaining empty for almost two decades until purchased by the Wright Company. ...read more

By: Glenn Larson, AICP Virginia Chapter Professional Development Officer

Certification Maintenance – Develop Your Credit Strategy
It’s here! By December 31, 2009, AICP members must earn a total of 32 credits under the new Certification Maintenance (CM) program. While I don’t have room here to go into the details of CM (more on that at www.planning.org/cm), I do have some suggestions about developing a strategy to compile needed credits. If you are an AICP member, you need to start now on your CM credit strategy. Take some time to think about how and when you can accumulate the credits you’ll need. Because so many CM credit opportunities are tied to scheduled events, even procrastinating a few months could jeopardize your ability to compile 32 credits needed by December 2009. ...read more

Now is the time to step up! Please consider a position on the VAPA Board. It is a unique and satisfying experience that will gain you much more that you give. Check out this page for information on the board and their duties. With the recent change in the by-laws, there are now 9 positions available. ...read more

The APA announced that Monument Avenue in Richmond has been designated as one of 10 Great Streets for 2007 through APA’s Great Places in America program. APA Great Places exemplify exceptional character and highlight the role planners and planning play in creating communities of lasting value. APA selected Monument Avenue as one of 10 Great Streets in America for its historic architecture, urban form, and quality residential and religious architecture, diversity of land uses, public art, and integration of multiple types of transportation. ...read more

VAPA is pleased to announce the release of the 3rd Edition of Managing Growth and Development in Virginia: a Review of the Tools Available to Localities or what has been commonly referred to as "The Tool Kit." Written and edited by Virginia planners, whose contributions and time to this effort are greatly appreciated, The Tool Kit is a summary of the enabling authority derived from the Code of Virginia (as amended) related to land use planning in Virginia. ...read more