Introduction to FBC Workshop

APA-IA is partnering with the Iowa Commercial Real Estate Association (ICREA) and the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to host a two-hour workshop on form-based zoning codes (FBCs) as a tool for creating mixed-use, walkable communities. Three experts from the Form-Based Codes Institute will discuss how FBCs work, how they differ from conventional codes and what a community needs to do to get started.

The FBCI Workshop is being held in conjunction with the 21^st Annual Iowa Commercial Real Estate Expo that brings together over 400 real estate professionals from across Iowa for educational and networking opportunities. APA-IA members who attend the FBCI Workshop are invited also to attend the ICREA Expo, which will include continental breakfast, lunch and a networking cocktail reception.

Brandon Palanker is the Principal at GP Development.  His 15 years of experience in marketing and strategic communications has also focused on real estate development. Currently, he is engaged in the mixed-use, transit oriented development of suburban downtowns according to a triple bottom line philosophy of social, economic and environmental responsibility. He has been actively involved in the development and execution of nationally renowned programs that include Crowdsourced Placemaking, a grass roots, social media campaign that allows for significant community involvement and engagement throughout the planning and development process. The firm has been involved in the creation of some of the most progressive zoning codes in the nation, including the first, truly live Form Based Code for a large scale downtown redevelopment, in the Village of Hempstead, NY. Brandon is a also member of the Urban Land Institutes Mixed-Use Development Council, and a Board Member of the Real Estate Institute at Stony Brook.

Geoffrey Ferrell is one of the originators of the modern practice of Form-Based Codes. His work ranges from site-specific urban designs to zoning-toolkits to replace Euclidean zones – development regulations that emphasize clarity for end-users. His experience with adopted municipal form-based codes goes back to 1991 with the Metropolitan Dade County Traditional Neighborhood Ordinance, and his experience includes the master plan & form-based code for the redevelopment of the Columbia Pike Corridor in Arlington, Virginia. His firm’s Form-Based Codes for the Farmers Branch, Texas, Station Area and Heart of Peoria Form-Districts in Peoria, Illinois, received the Richard Driehaus Form-Based Code Award in 2007 and 2010, respectively. Ferrell Madden’s work is featured in the books Form-Based Codes, The New Urbanism, and Retrofitting Suburbia.

Mr. Ferrell holds a Master of Architecture degree with a Certificate in American Urbanism from the University of Virginia, a Bachelor of Architecture from Oregon School of Design, and a Bachelor of Science in Public Policy from Willamette University. He is a Charter Member of the Congress for the New Urbanism and a Charter Board Member for the Form-Based Codes Institute.

Leslie Oberholtzer is a principal and Director of Planning at CodaMetrics, a boutique planning lab in Chicago, Illinois.  With over 25 years experience in urban design and smart growth planning, she works to promote sustainable development through the availability of alternative transportation and housing choices, the development of valuable places, and the preservation of community traditions.  In addition to being a registered landscape architect and a certified planner, she is National Charrette Institute (NCI) certified and a LEED Associated Professional.  Over the past 12 years, Leslie has developed over twenty-five neighborhood and full city codes for communities across the country. Recently, her work has focused on the research and development of form-based codes for Transit Oriented Development (TOD) nodes, corridors, and neighborhoods. Sustainability is at the core of the work Leslie produces not only through a focus on walkable and transit-served places, but also through the development of alternative energy, conservation area, and tree preservation ordinances. She also currently serves on the Location and Planning Technical Advisory Group for the US Green Building Council and the Star Community Index Technical Advisory Group, both cutting edge tools for sustainability at all scales of community.