Devin Lavigne named to Esri’s Partner Advisory Council

Houseal Lavigne is pleased to announce the nomination and acceptance of Devin Lavigne to Esri’s Partner Advisory Council (PAC). Devin will serve as a representative for a 3-year term.

The PAC, established in 2010, serves as a Board of Directors for Partnering at Esri. This is an esteemed community offered to a select number of partner thought leaders that meet rigorous criteria for nomination including senior leadership in their organization, current engagement in the partner ecosystem, a clear business strategy, and technology alignment with Esri. PAC members are committed to being advocates for the community and providing feedback and input on the strategic direction of the partner program in order to optimize how partners do business with Esri.

“Our PAC members are carefully selected to serve a very important role in our partner community,” said Robert Laudati, Director, Global Partners and Alliances. “As the voice of the Esri Partner Network, they provide valuable input and act as a sounding board on the development of our programs and have the responsibility to be representatives of Esri’s rapidly growing partner ecosystem.  I’m pleased to welcome Devin to this position.”

“Its an honor to be recognized for the work we are doing with Esri software and the impact we are having on communities throughout the United States,” said Devin Lavigne, Principal and Cofounder of Houseal Lavigne.

For more information about Houseal Lavigne. Learn more about the Esri Partner Network.

About Esri Partner Network

The Esri Partner Network is a rich ecosystem of organizations that work together to amplify The Science of Where. Esri has more than 2,600 partners globally, which deliver solutions, content, and services. Combining industry-specific knowledge with ArcGIS software expertise, partners can customize and extend the reach of geospatial technology in limitless applications and organizations.

About Esri

Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping, offers the most powerful geospatial cloud available, to help customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Founded in 1969, Esri software is deployed in more than 350,000 organizations including 90 of the Fortune 100 companies, all 50 state governments, more than half of all counties (large and small), and 87 of the Forbes Top 100 Colleges in the US, as well as all 15 Executive Departments of the US Government and dozens of independent agencies. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial information technology, Esri engineers the most advanced solutions for digital transformation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics. Visit us at esri.com.

About Houseal Lavigne

Houseal Lavigne is an urban planning and design firm focused on evidence-based decision-making and powering the art of planning with science of technology. We pride ourselves on thinking critically, creativity, collaboration, and excellence. Our team approach is built on strong relationships, the exchange of ideas, and a commitment to innovation. Our priorities are to do good, have fun, work hard, and provide responsive, visionary, and viable solutions to our clients and partners.

Devin Lavigne Named to Prestigious Planning College of Fellows

Devin Lavigne of Houseal Lavigne Associates has achieved the planning profession’s highest honor by being named to the prestigious American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) College of Fellows for his outstanding achievements in urban planning. Devin joins Houseal Lavigne co-founder John Houseal, who was named to the College of Fellows in April 2018.

Fellowship is granted to planners who have achieved certification through the American Planning Association’s professional institute, the American Institute of Certified Planners, and have achieved excellence in professional practice, teaching and mentoring, research, public and community service, and leadership. Invitations to join the College of Fellows come after a thorough nomination and review process, ensuring the candidate has had a positive, long-lasting impact on the planning profession.

“Individuals who make up the College of Fellows are the true leaders of the planning profession,” said past AICP President Valerie Hubbard, FAICP. “These individuals have made lasting contributions to the profession and have inspired generations of new planners. They are truly awe-inspiring.”

Devin has brought exceptional and sustained leadership to the field through the development and implementation of numerous award-winning plans that have had a lasting impact and have created readily definable changes in the communities he has served. He has broken new ground with the development of innovative mapping, visualization, and land use planning tools and solutions, which are geared towards enabling meaningful public engagement and consensus-building and are readily transferable to other communities. He has inspired and educated a whole new generation of planners through his continuous mentorship, teaching, and training activities. He has fostered a legacy for the profession, the community, and society through his record of preparing award-winning plans for communities across the country; through his innovations in mapping, visualization, and community engagement; through his mentorship and support of emerging planners; and through his exceptional qualities as a teacher and trainer. His commitment to excellence and infectious passion for planning are an inspiration to planners and non-planners alike. Finally, Devin has achieved exceptional accomplishments over an extended period of time, with his many accomplishments dating back over a career of more than 20 years.

Devin is one of 53 inductees into this year’s College of Fellows. Inductions are done biennially. This year’s formal induction will take place during APA’s National Planning Conference in Houston, Texas, on Sunday, April 26, 2020.

APA and its professional institute, the American Institute of Certified Planners, are dedicated to advancing the art, science and profession of good planning — physical, economic, and social — so as to create communities that offer better choices for where and how people work and live. The American Institute of Certified Planners provides recognized leadership nationwide in the certification of professional planners, ethics, professional development, planning education, and the standards of planning practice. For more information, visit www.planning.org.

City of Oshkosh and Houseal Lavigne win Special Achievement in GIS Award

  This summer at Esri’s User Conference in San Diego, California, the City of Oshkosh and Houseal Lavigne Associates were recognized for their work with a Special Achievement in GIS Award.

The Story

In 2017, Oshkosh’s largest employer, Oshkosh Corporation, began engaging communities across the nation in search for a new global headquarters. Oshkosh Corp’s recent success with a multi-billion dollar contract for manufacturing the military’s Humvee replacement was motivating them to build a state-of-the-art global headquarters to attract the workforce they needed. As one of the smallest cities with a Fortune 500 Company, City officials knew it would be difficult to retain them. Earlier that same year Oshkosh Corporation rejected a concept for a new downtown waterfront campus. Once Oshkosh Corp rejected the Downtown site, they published a list of their desired site criteria, including: more than 30 acres, interstate access, financially feasible, a “WOW!” World Class location, shovel ready, and able to attract a workforce.

The Analysis

Seeking to retain Oshkosh Corp and their jobs, City staff performed a site availability assessment in Esri’s ArcGIS and found 18 sites in the community that met some of Oshkosh Corp’s criteria. In performing the analysis they discovered the City’s Lakeshore Golf Course met all Oshkosh Corp’s site criteria. Before the City could offer a portion of its waterfront golf course, staff had to convince the public and City Council that selling part of the golf course was the right decision for the community. The City hired Houseal Lavigne Associates to develop a program and visualize what the campus could look like and help with a community dialogue to win public support for the project, and ultimately convince Oshkosh Corporation to stay in the community.

The Plan & Visualization

With only a month to submit a proposal, Houseal Lavigne Associates was asked to develop a plan, program, and renderings. The plan had to incorporate dramatic views of their main building, public recreational amenities, a riverwalk and trails, access to Interstate 41, and opportunities for expansion. Utilizing Esri’s CityEngine, they produced illustrations and a webscene that were critical in helping the public visualize the potential for the concept and ultimately win support to sell part of the golf course for the new global HQ. In November Oshkosh Corp’s Board of Directors accepted the City’s proposal to purchase the golf course and construct their new HQ in Oshkosh.

The Tools

ArcGIS

Once Oshkosh Corp rejected the Downtown site, they published a list of their desired site criteria, including: more than 30 acres, interstate access, financially feasible, a “WOW!” World Class location, shovel ready, and able to attract a workforce. Desktop GIS was used by City staff to find sites within the City fitting their search criteria. Based on the queries performed in ArcMap, only the Lakeshore Golf Course met the requirements of Oshkosh Corporation.

CityEngine

Visualizing the proposed development concept in 3D was critical to winning community support. Esri’s CityEngine was used to help visualize the new Corporate Headquarters, along with the future public parkland surrounding the campus, a new Riverwalk, new piers and boat slips, and new commercial development along the frontage road. CityEngine was also used to generate site data, including square footage of the future uses, parking requirements and supply, and linear feet of new roads and sidewalks.

Status

The new HQ is currently under construction, with occupancy targeted for October 2019. A website for the project has been created (https://oshkoshhq.com) where visitors can track its progress, take a virtual tour, and even view webcam images of the construction.

Envision Oak Park Wins APA Illinois Planning Award

Each year, the Illinois Chapter of the American Planning Association recognizes the best in planning across Illinois with its annual awards program. This year we are proud to announce that our Envision Oak Park Comprehensive Plan has earned a 2017 APA IL Award for Community Outreach.

The Envision Oak Park public outreach process was comprehensive and thorough in its scope. From the outset, the goal of the Village government, the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee, and our planning team was to engage citizens in order to draft a vision and series of recommendations that are specifically reflective of local goals and objectives. We are honored to receive such a prestigious award and are dedicated to continuing our forward thinking approach as we look to the future of planning.

We are always striving to understand the needs of communities we work with and utilize creative and innovative ways to capture data from community stakeholders. In addition to many face-to-face meetings and traditional workshops, our community engagement in Oak Park included the utilization of our revolutionary web-based community outreach platform map.social. Houseal Lavigne Associates created map.social (formerly sMap) to easily and effectively connect with all members of the community.

More details about the Envision Oak Park can be found here.

 

Facebook Live with CityEngine at the Esri User Conference

Imagine Flint Master Plan honored with prestigious awards

Imagine Flint – A Master Plan for a Sustainable Flint has received 2 prestigious planning awards: the Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan by the Michigan Chapter of the American Planning Association; and, the Macinac Prize by the Michigan Chapter of the Congress for New Urbanism. Comments from Juror Leslie Creane, AICP are below. Additional information about Imagine Flint, including additional images can be found on our portfolio page.

Juror Comments

The Master Plan for Flint is a vision – in more ways than one. The document is a graphic work of art that gives enough “air” around each subtopic to keep the reader engaged. Each chapter keeps the same 7 items up front: Imagine, Social Equity + Sustainability, Quality of Life, Youth, Reshaping the Economy, Adapting to Change, and Civic Life. The use of colored circles to code each Objective, showing which principles have been considered is brilliant. It is the equivalent to a restaurant rating and, at first blush, gives the reader an idea of which Objective serves the widest need.

Much of the focus of the Flint Master Plan is on shrinking the geography of infrastructure investment. The concentration of city amenities and services is a crucial first step. Although regulating plans are not a part of this document, the Flint Plan does and exceptional job of laying out the principles that create great places. There is discussion of the residential, commercial and public realm aspects of neighborhoods. The traffic calming section shows an understanding of the street/sidewalk areas as a dedicated public realm. The section on ‘commercial corridors’ as linear connections is followed by the section on the ‘downtown’, which is clearly shown as a neighborhood. The character descriptions of each type of area are clear and articulate New Urbanist principles without the jargon.

The innovative use of a “Land Use Wheel” takes the linear New Urbanist transect and creates a circular continuum. There are nuances to this wheel that deserve further study. Each chapter has an aesthetically pleasing matrix that lists strategies, time frames for achievement, public cost estimate, lead agency and “progress indicators”. This is the most innovative and well executed Master Plan I have seen. The level of public input, the consistency of message, the graphics, the commitment to each aspect covered is truly inspiring. The team(s) that created this Plan should be incredibly proud. They have created a cutting edge document that others are sure to emulate.

Leslie Creane, AICP
Juror, New England CNU
Planning Director, Hamden CT
Creane + Company, LLC