Planning & Zoning
Workshops & Lectures

Are you looking for highly informative and interesting training workshops for appointed and elected officials responsible for development decisions and processing development applications?

Are you looking for a dynamic speaker or interactive facilitator for your classroom, professional society, civic organization, corporate staff or special interest group?

“Pete” Pointner, author of Planning Connections, may be the answer. He is an experienced presenter who continuously receives high marks from those who have participated in his training sessions or attended his presentations. Also see About Pete.

Targeted Audiences:
  • Students in planning, landscape architecture, engineering, urban studies, environmental management, public administration, real estate and related fields
  • Planning commissions
  • Zoning boards
  • Municipal planning staff
  • Architectural review commissions
  • Elected officials
  • Professional societies and associations
  • Corporate staff
Tailored To Your Needs:
  • Interactive training sessions and lectures to provide information, answer questions and share practical ideas for improving planning, development and environmental quality
  • Each program customized in content, location, duration and time of meeting
  • Extensive use of visual aids and practical examples
  • Each participant receives copies of resource materials to expand on workshop or lecture topics
Instructor & Facilitator:
N.J. “Pete” Pointner FAICP, ALA, ITE
  • Taught planning and design at the university level for ten years
  • Served as a faculty member for Lorman Continuing Education seminars and made presentations at national, state, regional and local professional association conferences
  • Interim director of planning and development for 4 communities and experience as ongoing consulting village planner for 7 other municipalities
  • Managerial and technical leadership on projects in 25 states and 4 foreign countries
  • Directed preparation of numerous comprehensive plans, downtown and corridor revitalization plans and zoning ordinances
  • Carried out planning and urban design assignments for 65 units of local government in northern Illinois
  • Directed the preparation of development plans that have won awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects, Illinois Association of Homebuilders, the American Planning Association and the American Public Works Association
  • Directed interdiscipliary teams for the planning of large scale and controversial public works projects that have resulted in implemented roadway, bridge, rail passenger, transit and airport projects
  • Expert witness in more than 65 court cases

Sample Topics:

(A list of recent publications and presentations is available on request. See Contact Pete.)

  • The Roles and Authority of Plan Commissions and Zoning Boards
  • The Development Review Process and Economic Development
  • New Concepts for Planning Sustainable Communities
  • Preparing or Updating a Comprehensive Plan
  • Redevelopment of Arterial Roadway Corridors
  • Downtown Revitalization and Redevelopment
  • Design Guidelines for Historic Districts
  • Defensible Design Review
  • Effective Public Involvement
  • Preparing or Updating a Zoning Ordinance
  • Sustainable Site Planning
  • Preserving Rural Character
  • Relating Global and Local Environmental Issues
  • Planning for Green Infrastructure
Selected Projects on which “Pete” Pointner has carried out key roles:
  • Downtown Providence Rail and River Relocation Projects, national presidential and Bruner urban design awards
  • Elk Grove Village Commercial and Industrial Revitalization Plan that has resulted in $30 million in implemented improvements
  • Preservation Efforts in Pullman, Illinois – the nation’s first totally planned and designed industrial city, now a national, state and city of Chicago Historic Landmark District and named one of America's 10 Great Neighborhoods in 2011
  • Planning for the cluster open space communities of Manchester Lakes (Algonquin) winner of NAHB crystal key award, the Trails of Hebron (Illinois), Carrington Reserve (West Dundee) and the Fields of Woodstock (Illinois)
  • The Design of Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon, Colorado, National Design Award ASPE
  • Planning for the new town of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia
  Planning Connections
By Pete Pointner
  

Mayors and Managers Conference

“Pete’s workshops are much like on-the-job training: practical advice; real world experiences; interactive; and highly personalized. This same content and style is incorporated into the chapters on development controls and development processing with many useful guidelines and checklists for local government officials”

Rick O. Corneal, Past Director of planning and transportation, DuPage Mayor’ and Managers Conference, an association of municipalities representing 1,000,000 people


Downtown Providence Rail and River Relocation Project

Conservation Foundation Director

“Who said environmental protection and development don’t mix? They were wrong! Good and well-planned development may actually enhance the environmental condition and protect natural resources. Unfortunately, we have seen too much of the opposite. This book shows you how to do it right.”

Brook McDonald, President/CEO, The Conservation Foundation with over 1,600 members and 500 volunteers


Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon, Colorado

Village Administrator

“Pete has the unique ability to share his vast knowledge, extensive experience, and broad perspective in a manner that is practical, problem solving,and easily understood.”

Laurie Schreiber, Village Administrator for over 20 years while Pete served as consulting village planner for Kildeer, Illinois


Preservation Efforts in Pullman, Illinois