President’s Message – April

Wow, Georgia Planners – what a month we’ve had!

On a sunny Thursday in March at the GPA Spring Conference, over 200 of us met in Gainesville to network and attend sessions ranging from a mobile workshop on placemaking through public art in Gainesville to zoning reform in Dacula. Kristin Allin, Principal Planner with the Atlanta Regional Commission provided the lunchtime keynote on Affordable Housing Strides, Accomplishments and Challenges. We should all be sharing Kristin’s message about housing in our state with everyone (I mean everyone)—Let’s take the lead as Georgia Planners to implement housing solutions across Georgia to meet the needs of all of our residents.

Georgia Planning was the education sponsor of the 2025 Park Pride Parks & Greenspace Conference, partnering to provide certification maintenance credits for attendees. GPA is always looking for ways to partner with others in our state for high-quality training opportunities.

For those who attended the National Planning Conference (NPC25) in Denver, GPA co-hosted a reception on Saturday evening with the Georgia Tech School of City and Regional Planning. From all accounts, the social was a success, and students, practitioners, and professors were able to meet and mingle and discuss planning trends and conference sessions. We look forward to continuing this tradition in Detroit, April 25-28, 2026.

If you missed NPC25, here are some resources for your day-to-day from APA:

• APA has established a resource hub to navigate the shifting federal landscape on their critical resource page. (APA login required)
• The 2025 Trend Report for Planners helps us all polish our crystal balls to make better decisions in our communities https://youtu.be/1TpVReb7MqE
• Wondering about critical planning issues and policies? Take a moment to review APA policy guides.

I feel so fortunate to have represented the Georgia Chapter on the Chapter President’s Council, which everyone at APA refers to as CPC. One of the fun traditions is sharing something from our state with other Chapter Presidents at the Business meeting. Attached to an Explore Georgia Postcard, I shared Stuckey’s Pecan Log Rolls and Peach Bites.

This year during the CPC business meeting, two of our own were recognized Whitney Shephard, PE, LEEP AP, M.ASCE was awarded the CPC Lynn Jorgenson Award and Erin Thoresen, AICP was recognized as 2024 Outstanding Chapter Volunteer. Read more here.

Let me know how GPA can support you. 

Warmest regards,

Kristen

#ItTakesAPlanner