Presentations

Waterfront Planning and the Goderich Tornado OPPI SW District Walking Tour (October 2025) with Denise Van Amersfoort

Huron’s Actions and Lessons Learned in Housing tour for Stratford Economic Development staff and Mayor (July 2025) with Past Warden McNeil and Chris Watson

Applying a Housing Friendly Lens to the Municipal Planning Role: Case studies from Huron County OPPI Conference presentation (September 2024) with Denise Van Amersfoort

Affordable and Non-Market Housing: Changes in Policy and Recent Developments – Jane’s Walk (May 2024)

Bill 23 Deep Dive: Site Plan Ontario Law Society Conference presentation (February 2023) with Jennifer Evola, Cassels Brock & Blackwell

Kincardine Housing Action Plan Forum panelist (June 2022)

Housing Sustainability and a Primer in Land Use Planning from a Rural Perspective guest lecturer to Humber B.Eng students (2021 to 2024)

Heritage Planning & Post-Tornado Reconstruction OPPI SW District Event (June 2016) with Dwayne Evans and others

Heritage Downtown Infill Development and Goderich Tornado walking tours to Guelph RPD students (2015 to 2019)

Employment

County of Huron; Senior Planner; November 2021 to Present

As a Senior Planner with the County, I continue to provide planning services to a local municipality (including both development review and policy planning). I am now a mentor and supervisor to a group of Planners, and have an increased role in achieving key strategic priorities for the Corporation and Department, particularly where it relates to population projections, housing or urban design. I am proud to have supported several Planners through becoming full Registered Professional Planners, both as a Mentor and Sponsor.

County of Huron; Planner; July 2014 to November 2021

In the County of Huron, each municipality typically has a single planner assigned to provide all planning services at the lower and upper tier level within that geographic area. I provided land use planning services to the Town of Goderich on behalf of the County of Huron. My work included development review, policy planning, demographics research, and hiring and managing student planners with the County. I also had the opportunity to manage projects where outside consultants were hired, throughout the entire process from developing an RFP, assessing proposals, and working with the successful consultants on the key deliverables.

Planning evidence at Tribunal Hearings:

OMB Hearing PL141168: Fusion Homes Subdivision & ZBLA August 22 to 26, 2016

OMB Hearing PL160009: 241 Picton ZBLA May 16, 2016

County of Huron; Policy Planning Assistant; September 2013 to June 2014

As a policy planning assistant, my focus was on supporting planners with their long term planning projects, particularly zoning by-law reviews and consolidations. In this position I drafted and edited new zoning by-law policies during zoning by-law update process and coordinated the related GIS mapping updates. I also created comparisons of existing and proposed zoning by-laws for municipal staff, Councillors, and members of the public.

I researched and wrote briefing papers for senior staff on issues including the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations, the Line Fences Act, industrial wind turbines, sustainable purchasing policies, and the conversion of rail corridors into trail facilities.

I also assisted with the creation and implementation of a County-wide survey to inform our immigration strategy, and drafted planning reports relating to development applications in the County.

County of Huron; Research and Support Staff; May 2013 to August 2013

In this role I performed research and provided administrative support for groups involved in local food, active transportation, and other collaborative projects of the Health Unit and Planning & Development Department, which included facilitating, and participating in public meetings of various County committees and community groups.

I also inventoried and moved mutually useful reports and resources to more accessible locations in order to save time during Official Plan reviews and Health Unit report creation, and oriented Health Unit staff on their role as a commenting agency in the land use planning process.

Research Assistant to Dr. John Lewis; April 2012 to August 2012

I coordinated the creation and implementation of an Age Friendly Waterloo survey to guide future Age Friendly City projects by staff and community groups, while incorporating edits and suggestions from commenting agencies and professionals into the Ontario Senior’s Secretariat Age-Friendly Community Planning Guide.

I also presented research to members of the Mayor’s Age Friendly City Advisory Committee and Brenda Halloran, Mayor of Waterloo.

University of Waterloo; Residence Don; September 2011 to April 2012

As a Don, I was a live-in mentor for a community of 54 first-year Waterloo students. In this role I regularly handled emergencies and confidential information in professional manner, worked within multiple levels of teams of dons, management, and other University staff. I was also responsible for creating weekly socials and educational programmes for residents.

County of Huron; Student Planner; Summer 2010 & 2011

As a student planner with the County, I researched and drafted diverse official plan and zoning bylaw policies and worked in all stages of development review process, including creating visualizations of proposed developments and drafting reports to Council. I presented my work at a public meeting regarding official plan and zoning bylaw policies and suitability of infill development.

To support the Economic Development goals and projects of the department, I organized and assisted with the distribution of 35,000 County tourism materials to targeted businesses and attractions throughout the County and adjacent gateway communities. I also completed fieldwork for an industrial and commercial lands review while working with Economic Development to inventory available retail and industrial spaces

County of Huron; Museum Assistant; June 2006 to August 2009

At the museum I created briefing notes and reference pages for senior staff on commonly researched topics and planned new exhibits, assisted the public with archival research, and performed data entry using Microsoft Access to transcribe hundreds of historic court cases. My most rewarding tasks were orienting tourists to the Town and County, and guiding tours of the sites.