City of Shoreline 2012 Comprehensive Plan Speaker Series

In January, the City kicked off a five-month speaker series on themes related to the City's Comprehensive Plan Update. Each month, a speaker will present a topic relating to the Comprehensive Plan component that will be before the Planning Commission. The forth speaker, Rob Bennett, will focus on Eco-Districts.  The event will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Shoreline City Council Chambers.

Rob is the founding executive director of the Portland Sustainability Institute.  He comes most recently from the Clinton Climate Initiative, where he was the residential and cities policy manager, developing comprehensive residential pilot programs for the cities of Houston and Chicago. In that role, Rob also provided technical assistance to cities throughout North America in the areas of climate change reductions and building performance policy.

Prior to that, Rob spent eight years working directly for the cities of Vancouver, B.C. and Portland, OR. He led the development of Vancouver's comprehensive Green Building Strategy and facilitated the green building and infrastructure activities for the Southeast False Creek redevelopment - better known as the 2010 Olympic Village.

In Portland, Rob founded the City's Green Building Program, G/Rated, and led conservation program and policy development in the areas of energy efficiency and corporate sustainability.

Rob is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst School of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning. He has served on the boards of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council and REACH Community Development.  

Following each speaker's presentation, attendees will be invited to mingle and share ideas with staff and other participants. These ideas will be transformed into new goals and policies for the Comprehensive Plan that will guide future decisions made by City officials and staff. The Comprehensive Plan is the primary tool used by local governments to guide decisions regarding the use of land, housing, transportation, community design, economic development, infrastructure and natural resources.