Stolzenburg Named AICP Fellow

Nan Stolzenburg, FAICP CEP

Upstate APA Chapter is pleased to announce that Nan C. Stolzenburg, FAICP CEP was accepted into the AICP College of Fellows- the highest honor bestowed by APA’s professional institute. Nan’s lifetime work in planning has made significant contributions to planning in rural communities, and her work has been exceptional, innovative, and has resulted in demonstrable positive improvements throughout Upstate New York. Nan has had an extensive, successful, highly impactful, and award-winning private sector career that has embodied all the best planning practices advocated by the American Planning Association. Her legacy is significant and her work has promoted both planning and the role of the planner in countless communities. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition, Nan!

Nan’s career has focuses on linking land use and environmental protection. Initially working for 10 years as a wildlife biologist, Nan realized she wanted to make a more significant difference by focusing her work by helping rural communities address growth pressures and change. To accomplish this, she achieved a second master’s degree in 1995 and then embarked on a 26+ year planning career serving small, rural, and under-served communities in upstate New York. Specializing in land use and environmental planning, Nan has highly influenced over 70 rural towns, villages, and counties that she has consulted with. Her high degree of technical planning and environmental knowledge, coupled with a deep understanding of rural communities and the environment that supports them, has enabled Nan to become a trusted advisor who is continually sought out throughout the region for a variety of planning-related work. A testament to her skills and the confidence so many place in her is the fact that many of her client communities have continued their work with her over many years, and through many different elected administrations. Her work has resulted in an exceptional array of accomplishments beyond adoption of plans and local regulations to include improved environmental protection and main street revitalization, preservation of open spaces and prime farmlands, expansion of rural housing opportunities, maintenance of traditional neighborhoods and main street character, improved outdoor recreation, and most importantly, in improving the quality of life throughout the area. Her annotated resume outlines the demonstrable results of her work.

Of her 40+ comprehensive plans completed, dozens are first-time planning efforts. Not only has she been able to bring these projects to adoption, but Nan has been able to help these communities take the next step to implement their plans through first-time zoning laws, updated site plan and subdivision laws, grant writing for specific community improvement projects (parks, trails, main street and streetscape improvements), or development of design guidelines that ensure rural character and the environment are maintained as established in community plans. We feel it is important to note that a majority of communities that Nan has consulted with include those that were very reluctant to do any kind of planning, much less zoning. Nan has reflected on the number of times a project starts off with “do not consider zoning in this community”. Nan has had the ability to move communities who had no land use controls to embrace not only comprehensive planning, but adoption of fair and balanced land use laws such as zoning and site plan that meet community goals while respecting individuality and property rights. She has drafted first-time zoning or site plan laws in 10 different communities. And the reach of that work extends to other places having been used as models by many other communities.

Nan has an expansive array of planning skills that she brings to her consulting work. She has helped in the establishment of local comprehensive plans, agricultural and farmland protection plans, and regional and strategic plans such as waterfront revitalization, natural resource inventories, and open space planning. She also aids communities with development project reviews, environmental assessments, and implementation of land use regulations. Of great significance is Nan’s advocacy for use of innovative tools especially targeted to address the specific land use needs in rural areas, including conservation subdivision, average lot size/density averaging, overlay districts, agricultural buffers, commercial design standards, smart growth to direct development to hamlets and villages, modified site plan reviews, and use of riparian buffers are all now standard tools implemented in her many client communities as a result of her work. She is an expert in evaluation of land use laws in relation to their farm-friendliness and has influenced 11 counties and an additional 11 towns through development of agricultural and farmland protection plans, and countless other communities through her farm-friendly zoning training efforts to help municipalities update their regulations to promote farms, local food systems and preserve farmland. She has worked with GIS specialists to creatively use Geographic Information Systems as foundational to planning and she provides her communities with an impressive array of mapping tools to use in decision-making such as viewshed analysis, build-out analysis, solar capacity analysis, identification of priority farmlands, and identification of sensitive environmental locations.

Of special note is Nan’s statewide legacy to improve the environment. She co-authored the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s State Environmental Quality Review Workbooks. The workbooks are a state-wide online educational tool and guide used to help communities carry out effective environmental reviews. Two separate workbooks were written in consultation with NYS DEC staff: one for the Short Environmental Assessment form and one for the Full Environmental Assessment Form. These workbooks are the first time the State has provided such detailed insight into what environmental impacts to be evaluated are and why they are important. The workbooks offer explanations, definitions, examples, and critical questions planning and zoning boards should ask and get answers for during the project review process. Nan’s authorship of these workbooks cements her legacy for our planning profession. Since SEQR is required for almost every project a planning board or zoning board of appeals has to review, the SEQR Workbooks have positively influenced and improved environmental protection and quality planning that is conducted by volunteers and professionals alike throughout the State. The workbooks have become a vital tool for effective environmental planning. She was also instrumental in the creation of the NYS Environmental Assessment Form (EAF) Mapper – another state-sponsored online resource that takes known natural resource data and auto-fills in specific information on the SEQR forms on a parcel-by-parcel basis to help identify critical natural resources. The Workbooks and the EAF Mapper received the 2014 Planning Excellence Award for Best Practice from the American Planning Association, New York Upstate Chapter.

Nan works directly with Planning Boards on review of proposed site plan, special use or subdivision projects resulting in definable and significant changes. Her site planning work has resulted in, for example, enhancements to solar farms to improve screening and habitat connectivity, changes to subdivisions to protect sensitive vernal pools and streams, steep slopes, and other natural resources, and changes to building facades to be consistent with the local vernacular style.

In addition to her consulting work, Nan generously donates time to mentor planning students, and also serves in a variety of capacities that expand the reach of planning in organizations such as the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, the Schoharie Economic Enterprise Corporation, the Schoharie Land Trust, and the Bender Melon Farm Preserve. In another pivotal role, she volunteers as an advisor to help shape national policies towards rural areas and agriculture through serving on Congressman Antonio Delgado’s (NY-19th District) Agricultural Advisory Committee.

For more information in FAICP and the Chapter’s FAICP members, please see https://www.nyupstateplanning.org/faicp