Promised Lands Section

2024-2025 Slate of Promised Lands Officers

The Chair of the Promised Lands Section and nominating committee are happy to announce a slate of new officers for the Promised Lands Section for 2024-2025:

• Chair : Laura Tefft
• Vice Chair : Lindsay Robin, AICP
• Secretary : Katie Woellner, AICP
• Treasurer : Baily Schleifer
• Immediate Past Chair : Jason Green, AICP

Installation of new officers will be at the annual Holiday Party in December.

All officers and members of the Executive Committee shall be members of the American Planning Association (APA).

The Chair shall have the following duties: i. Appointing committee members and chairman; ii. Directing the preparation of a program and budget; iii. Calling meetings of the Section, and the Executive Committee; iv. Serving as an ex-officio member of all committees; v. Preparing an annual report of the Chair's activities vi. Performing such other duties required by the Bylaws or customary to the office.

The Vice-Chair shall have the following duties: i. Actively assisting the Chair in the guidance and coordination of committee activities; ii. Carrying out duties assigned by the Chairman; iii. Acting as Chair in the absence or incapacity of the Chair; and iv. Coordinating program arrangements for each regular meeting.

The Secretary shall have the following duties: i. Maintaining an accurate list of regular, local and student members of the Section; ii. Notifying members of meetings; iii. Preparing and reporting minutes of Section and Executive Committee meetings; and iv. Transmitting to the Secretary of the Florida Chapter and to the Executive Director of the Association copies of Section Bylaws, publications, and resolutions concerning matters of Association policy.

The Treasurer shall have the following duties: i. Collection of Section dues; ii. Receiving and disbursing Section funds; iii. Assisting the Chairman in preparing an annual budget for review by the Executive Committee; iv. Maintaining accounts that shall be open to inspection by officers and subject to audit; and v. Performing such other duties required by these Bylaws or customary to the office.

The Immediate Past-Chair shall have the following duties: i. Lending continued guidance and support to the Executive Committee and ii. Performing such other duties as requested by the Chairman.

Nominations for any office may be by petition of five percent of the membership or twenty members, whichever is less, provided such petition is submitted to the Nominating Committee within thirty days following the publication notices of the recommended slate of officers.

For more information or to petition another member for office, please contact any member of the current Executive Committee. Thank you.

WARPED TOUR 2023 “THE PERFECT STORM EIGHT MONTHS OUT: A Symposium for Professional Planners, Design Professionals, Planning Commissioners & Regular People” - was a roaring success.

Thank you to our sponsors, speakers and participants - especially Max Forgey, AICP and Jordan Hester.

WARPED TOUR 2023

A Symposium for Professional Planners, Design Professionals, Plan Commissioners & Regular People Friday May 12 - 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM

At Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center 75 Taylor St. Punta Gorda, Florida.

Presented by Promised Lands Section of American Planning Association (APA) Florida Chapter and Florida Planning and Zoning Association (FPZA) Calusa Chapter.

Approved for 6.0 AICP/CM credits including 1 Law and 1 Sustainability.

Warped Tour 2023: The Perfect Storm Eight Months Out is a planning symposium for professional planners, design professionals and regular people in Punta Gorda, Florida sponsored by the Promised Lands Section of APA Florida and the Calusa Chapter of the Florida Planning and Zoning Association (FPZA). It is an all day educational and social event for the professional planner and other interested parties at the Charlotte Harbor Event and Conference Center, 75 Taylor St. Punta Gorda. There will be oportunities for question and answer, and an evaluation of the program. The intent is to educate our membership about planning, water issues, emergency management, land use law, sustainability and resilience, zoning, and more. 

Individual elements of the program, as of now is below: “Land Use Law for Planners & Design Professionals: Everything You Need to Know in 90 Minutes";  “The 2023 Florida Legislative Session & The Great Disconnect” ; “The Long Term Impacts of Hurricane Ian on South Florida’s Water Resources”;  “Lessons Learned from a Perfect Storm. Six Perspectives (Hurricane Ian of 2022). Speakers include professional planners, local officials, land use attorneys and a key note by Chauncey Goss,  the Chair of the South Florida Water Management District.

Chauncey Goss is the founder and managing partner of Goss Practical Solutions – a firm that provides federal fiscal policy analysis and budget forecasting. Prior to starting the firm, Goss served as Deputy Staff Director and Director of Budget Review for the House Budget Committee in Washington, DC. As a long-time resident of Southwest Florida, Goss first became involved with water quality issues when he worked as the Executive Director of the Gasparilla Island Conservation and Improvement Association on Boca Grande in the early 1990s.

Yay Promised Lands

At the Holiday Party in Fort Myers we raised over $600 for the Harlem Heights Hurricane Ian Relief Foundation.

Thank you for all those who contributed!

Land use attorney Mike Haymans plays a song at the Swamp Peddlers Symposium in Punta Gorda Aug. 6, 2021.

Jason Vuic at the Swamp Peddlers Symposium in Punta Gorda. Thank you to all the APA Florida and FPZA members who worked hard on this wildly successful in person program.