Thursday, September 29

Planning For Resiliency
Ballroom B

Building reciprocal relationships with developers is essential to meeting goals around housing development and meeting local needs around dedicated, income-qualified housing. Explore how using voluntary incentives can help achieve these goals and how the City of Missoula utilized a feasibility assessment to guide our voluntary incentives approach.

Presenter: Emily Harris-Shears

Emily Harris-Shears (she/her/hers), is a housing policy specialist with the City of Missoula. She is focused on implementing solutions that address urgent housing needs and mitigate market factors. Emily has worked in program design, funding and housing policy for the last decade.

1.25 CM

Planning For Community
Ballroom C

Communities and stakeholders across Montana are using increasingly innovative and inclusive techniques to engage professionals, elected and appointed board members, advocates, and a broad array of residents in planning and implementing active transportation projects and policies. This session will convene a panel of those who have utilized techniques such as I2Audits, Accessibility Ambassadors, and participants in MTDH’s Building Active Communities Initiative (BACI) to share lessons learned in creating opportunities for healthy active transportation for people across the spectrum of age, income, race, background, ability and disability.

Presenter: Mark Fenton
Mark Fenton is a transportation, planning, and public health consultant, author, PBS television host, and active transportation advocate. An adjunct associate professor at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, he combines a public health perspective with engineering expertise (BS and MS degrees from MIT) to provide innovative community-level program, design, and policy solutions to create more walkable, bicycle- and transit-friendly cities and towns.

1.25 CM

Planning For Resiliency
Ballroom B

HUD has many programs and resources that provide support to communities, organizations and individuals. This session will introduce you to the work of the local Montana Field Office, an opportunity to connect with HUD information and data, and information on how to convene with HUD in areas that can enhance the role that HUD can provide in your community,

Presenter: Jackie Girard, HUD State Director

1.25 CM

Planning For Community
Ballroom C

The City of Billings and Yellowstone County have implemented electronic plan review of certificate of surveys and amended plats to improve efficiency and timeliness of the staff review process. In this session Monica Plecker, Planning Division Manager and Jeff Martin, Yellowstone County Clerk and Recorder along with a surveyor will demo the program which allows for real-time concurrent review and will discuss the electronic process and its successes and challenges.

Presenter: Monica Plecker, AICP

Monica Plecker is the Planning Division Manager for the City of Billings and Yellowstone County oversees division operations. She has 11 years of planning experience in various capacities in Yellowstone County and has worked in both private and public sector planning. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and is a current board member for the Montana Association of Planners. She was recognized by the Billings Gazette in the 2020 class of 40 under 40.

Jeff Martin

Jeff Martin is the Clerk and Recorder for Yellowstone County, Jeff is has extensive background in land transactions and is an integral part of the review process of survey’s and subdivisions.  

Robbin Bartley

Robbin Bartley is the Administrative Assistant for the City of Billings Planning and Community Services Department. She has been in this position since 2015. One of her tasks is the continual processing of all exempt plat electronic submittals. Other duties include pubic contact, invoicing, office supplies, clerking Board’s and Commission meetings and various other staff needs. Her interests include horses, gardening and reading. She is recently SCUBA certified and can’t wait to start exploring the world down under.

1.25 CM

Planning For Transportation
Conference Room 1

More than three decades after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, there is still widespread failure to make our communities accessible to those with disabilities. From public meetings to transition plans, land use planners have a unique opportunity to help elected officials understand, plan for, and implement accessibility features that will make your community more inclusive, increase public participation, and comply with the law.

This session will provide an overview of the basics of the ADA and its accompanying rules and guidance, explain when and where the requirements apply, and identify specific steps planners can take to make their communities more accessible.

Presenter: Kelly A. Lynch, JD, AICP

Kelly has more than 20 years of experience as an attorney and local government advocate. As Executive Director of the Montana League of Cities and Towns, she focuses on collaboration between public agencies, the private sector, and elected officials with diverse backgrounds to provide creative, efficient, and effective leadership for Montana’s communities. Kelly joined the League as Deputy Director and General Counsel in 2016. Kelly previously served as the Community Development Division Administrator and Special Projects Legal Counsel for the Montana Department of Commerce, Deputy County Counsel for Santa Barbara County, and as an Associate at Richards Watson & Gershon in Los Angeles. Originally from East Helena, Montana, Kelly earned a Master’s degree in Urban Planning and a law degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. She earned her certification from the American Institute of Certified Planners in 2015.

1.25 CM Law/Equity

Mobile Tour

Discover Billings and Yellowstone County! Take a morning walk through the heart of downtown Billings to learn about the development of North Broadway and the historical characters who walked the streets. This tour begins at the hotel lobby.

Presenter:

Lauren E. Hunley has spent nearly 20 years in the museum field. Earning her Master of Arts in Learning & Visitor Services in Museums and Galleries through Leicester University in England, she’s worked for both small museums and national museum service organizations. She is the author of 101 Museum Programs on a Shoestring Budget and has presented at numerous museum conferences. She is currently the Community Historian at the Western Heritage Center in Billings, Montana.

1.25 CM

Planning For Community
Ballroom C

An overview of APA Ethics cases and outcomes in 2021.

Presenter: Allison Mouch, AICP

Allison joined Orion Planning + Design in September 2016 and is currently based in Missoula, Montana. Bringing 16 years of professional planning experience to the team, her areas of specialization include comprehensive plans, code development, public engagement, project management, mapping, and analysis, with a focus on collaboration as a means of achieving positive outcomes. Mouch has wide-ranging experience working with private developers and public clients on forward-thinking land use and design solutions, fostering meaningful partnerships that result in sound policy and planning decisions. She is AICP and an active member of the American Planning Association (APA) as the Region V Board Director, past-president of APA’s Western Central Chapter, and currently sits on the Montana Association of Planners (MAP) Board of Directors. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Miami University (Ohio), and a master’s degree in urban and environmental planning from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

1.5 CM Ethics