Orlando Metro Section Home Page

The Orlando Metro section is in Central Florida, and includes five counties: Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Sumter. (See map)

The Orlando-Metro Section of the American Planning Association, Florida Chapter is composed of local planners, architects, city and county officials and others interested in the planning profession.  We encourage to you to join our section membership if you live or work in the Orlando-Metro area.  We typically meet over lunch at various times throughout the year. Our monthly board meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month.  In addition to the monthly board meeting we coordinate professional development sessions and social gatherings.  Sessions include legislative programs in the late fall, and other topics of interest as the membership requests including a “Planning Director’s Forum.” These sessions allow us to get together to talk about projects we have going on in our region, to learn and offer advice to each other with our current projects at hand.

Membership also offers great networking opportunities! I hope that if you are not already a member, you will look to the membership section of this site for more information. Please know we also encourage students and elected or appointed officials to join our organization.

Congratulations to two Orlando Metro Section members who are part of the 2008 class of Fellows of AICP.  Robert E. Ansley, AICP and Richard W. Unger, AICP will be inducted into the College of Fellows on Sunday, April 27, 2008, at the APA National Planning Conference in Las Vegas.  Congratulations, Bob and Rich!!

If you have anything to submit to the Orlando-Metro Section website, such as upcoming social events or training sessions, etc., please contact Jennifer Bryla at Jennifer.Bryla@ocfl.net Thanks!

AICP CM Opportunity

As many of you know, our first online course, Planning for Healthy Communities with Health Impact Assessments has been an outstanding success – offering more than 600 AICP members 6 CM credits for free.  I am pleased to announce that we have just extended our contract to keep this course for free for an additional year. The second online course, Ethical Practice for Practicing Planners ($49.95) (2|CM) has just been completed and is now available on our website. In either case go to http://professional.captus.com/Planning/catalog.aspx The third online course, Hot Topics in Planning Law ($99.95) (3|CM) will be available later in June, soon after the 2009 Planning Law Review (1.5|CM) audio/web conference on June 24.  These courses meet the required areas of ethics and law.  Go to http://professional.captus.com/Planning/catalog.aspx for the law review as well.

January
7th - Board meeting
9th - Creating Citizen Engagement in Small and Rural Communities webcast - Orange County Planning - AICP CM Event free
10th - Greening Your Community's Local Economy - Workshop; 9:00 am Tampa Port Authority - AICP CM Event - $40

10th - History Book Club: "Losing it All To Sprawl" - Orange County Regional History Center 3 - 5 pm. Call 407-836-7010 to RSVP

14th - Lake / Sumter MPO 2035 Transportation Plan Update - Land Use Workshop 9-12 pm  Lake County Agricultural Center

21st - Infrastructure, CIP, and Alternative Transportation webcast - Lake County Administration - AICP CM Event free  RSVP to TBurke@lakesumtermpo.com

29th Dan Burden - "Walkability and Infill Development" - 12:30 - 2 pm Orange County Planning - free AICP CM Event 201 S. Rosalind Ave County Commission Chambers

29th Randall Arendt - "Reclaiming the Commercial Strip" - 12:30 - 5 pm Maitland Civic Center - $10 in advance $15 at the door.  To RSVP contact tara@ecfrpc.org   31st Walkable Communities Workshop 9am - 4 pm FGCU campus - $109 to RSVP contact Mhamley@fgcu.edu

February
1st - Judith Mucci Scholarship Applications due.
5th - Board meeting Orange County Planning
6th Energy Efficient Land Use Planning  Web Cast - FREE 1-2:30 AICP CM Event

24th - Florida Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers Winter Workshop - FDOT Urban Office 10:00 am to 5:00 6 AICP CM Hours

March
5th - Board meeting   Orange County Planning                                               13th - Lunch and Learn - TOD Development - "What it is, What it isn't and What it should be" Greenburg Traurig. 11:00 - 2:00 Cost: $5  RSVP to tina.demostene@gmail.com AICP CM Event

20th - 2009 Orange County Redevelopment Workshop - The Renaissance Senior Center 3800 S. Econlockhatchee Trail, 8:00 am to 3:00 pm Cost: $20.  For more information contact Allissa.torres@ocfl.net http://www.orangecountyfl.net/cms/DEPT/growth/planning/default.htm 

27-28 Suncoast section  2009 AICP EXAM Prep Seminar  Seminar goes from friday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm and Saturday from 8:00 am to 4:00. Registration ends March 18.  $140.00 includes comprehensive study materials and continenetal breakfast and lunch each day and social hour on friday.  visit www.suncoastfapa.org to register.

2nd - Board meeting Orange County Planning.
3rd - Webcast - Agricultural Preservation / On-line Webinar 1pm to 2:30 EDT- You must be pre-registered to view this webinar.  Register or more details at http://utah-apa.org AICP CM Event                       - Board meeting Orange     April 17 - AICP "Mini AICP study course" Presented by Orlando Metro Section. course will be at Orange County Administration building 201 S. Rosalind Ave.  More information to follow.

May

7th - Board meeting Orange County Planning - cypress I room 12-1

8th Codes on the Road 7:30 am South Eola District

15th Codes on the Road 7:30 am Downtown Orlando FREE rsvp to Tina.Demostene@gmail.com with rsvp-downtown orlando in subject heading 1 CM

19 Essence Marketing "Marketing in a Down Market - Don't Sell What You Deliver" 5:30 - 7:30 Greenberg Traurig Suite 650 Cost: $15 includes presentor Charlie Stuart's new book.  Seating is limited RSVP to tina.demostene@gmail.com  1.5 CM

28 FDOT Design Guideline Workshop sponsored by the Heart of Florida Section 1:00-4:30 at the Lakeland Technology Building, Polk Community College to register contact www.lklndtod.eventbrite.com

June

4th - Board meeting Orange County Planning - cypress I room 12-1

5th - APA FL Executive Committee Meeting

5th - Current Trends in Planning Law - CM Law Credit 1.5 hrs. 1pm - 2:30 Orange County Planning - Cypress I & II email jennifer.bryla@ocfl.net to rsvp

12 Codes on the Road - Downtown Eustis 1 CM credit.  More information to follow.

10-13 FPZA State Conference CM Credits.

14 - AICP Early Bird application deadline go to www.planning.org/certification/index.htm

July

9 - ACIP Final Application deadline for Nov. exam go to www.planning.org/certification/index.htm

10 - AICP Ethics Jeopardy Game, 1.5 Ethic CM Across the Counties, contact your County director. 11:30 - 1:00 Brown Bag lunch series SEATING IS LIMITED.

For ongoing certification credit opportunities go to http://www.planetizen.com/courses/index.php