Association of Environmental Professionals | San Diego Chapter
SPRING 2019
Participating in the 2019 AEP Chapter Summit was an immensely enjoyable experience for me and has helped me feel more confident in my new role as the AEP San Diego Chapter President. The AEP Chapter Summit was held prior to the 2019 Conference on Saturday, March 23rd at the Monterey Plaza Hotel. Board members from all nine chapters were in attendance, with members ranging from 30-plus years of involvement to newly-joined members. The San Diego Chapter Board made a strong showing, with Corinne Lytle-Bonine (Chapter Director), Emily Pacholski (Treasurer), Thomas Strand (VP of Membership), Janelle Firoozi (VP of Programs), and myself attending. The all-day summit began with introductions and stories about how each person was introduced to AEP. Similar patterns emerged as we went around the room; most board members had begun their involvement in AEP as students, emerging professionals, during career changes, or advancements in their professional interests. I really enjoyed hearing about how AEP had provided opportunities for career exploration, networking, educational growth, and leadership positions, as I identified greatly with the benefits everyone has found in their membership with AEP. Once everyone had shared their story, Bill Halligan (State President), Mindy Fogg (State Vice President), and Laurel Lees (State Board Director-at-Large) discussed the recent AEP happenings, including an overview of the conference, upcoming AEP Institute, and the exciting new membership video being produced. We were lucky enough to have a sneak-peak of the membership video, which highlighted the value of membership as told by current board members from around the state, including our very own Thomas Strand describing his experiences as an active member and his involvement with boosting membership in the San Diego chapter. I felt that the video was extremely powerful and truly captured the excitement and devotion AEP members exhibit! I think this video series will be an asset for sharing our stories and continue to foster growth in our student and emerging professional memberships, as well as expand the value of membership for professionals working in technical disciplines. I am looking forward to seeing what the membership committee will wow us with next! The remainder of the day was spent discussing various topics in breakout sessions. During session one, we were separated by board position and talked about the successes and challenges of each of our chapters. As the newly elected President of the San Diego Chapter, I was grouped with other current presidents, many of whom were also new to the position. We discussed the challenges our chapters face, including board member burnout and subsequent difficultly recruiting board members, geographic distance for chapters, and maintaining active student chapters. Although the San Diego chapter is fortunate in not having to deal with many of these reoccurring issues, it was helpful to hear what issues other chapters are working to resolve and I was happy to help generate solutions to these challenges. We all agreed that bridging the gap between chapters and maintaining open channels of communication will allow us to learn from each other and come up with solutions to problems as they arise. Session two included breaking out by different topics of interest such as communications, trainings, programs and workshops, and mentorship. I was particularly interested in the topic of developing a mentorship program within AEP and found many other chapter board members were enthusiastic about this as well. Session three was framed around each chapter gathering to identify successes from the past year as well as goals and areas of improvement for the current year. I enjoyed reviewing the past year with my fellow San Diego chapter board members as we were overflowing with successes and accomplishments where we used our creativity to develop new events, grow student chapters, and attract new members. We shared these successes and the ambitious goals we set for our chapter to continue improving and being a leader in the state. I am extremely grateful to have had the chance to represent the San Diego AEP Chapter at the 2019 Summit, foster connections with other talented and enthusiastic board members, and learn from the successes and challenges of other chapters. I am eagerly looking forward to the 2020 summit and AEP conference in Yosemite, and plan on continuing to maintain close connections with my fellow chapter presidents as well as chapter and state board members moving forward!
MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD BY KAtie LAYBOURN, San diego aep chapter president
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ENVIRONMENTOR
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MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD (CONT)
2019 AEP Institute: Wildfire Resiliency Planning & CEQA Friday, June 28, 2019 | Marriott Burbank Airport The Institute will feature two keynote speakers, panels on a variety of topics such as climate change and fire resiliency and addressing fire resiliency in CEQA documents, as well as a networking happy hour.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Thursday, May 30: Drones & Environmental Consulting Luncheon Summer/Fall 2019: NEPA Basics and NEPA Advanced Workshops are coming to San Diego! Additional details to follow.
In January, SDAEP held a Happy Hour & CEQA Trivia Night at Benchmark Brewing. Congrats to the winning team (VMT - Very Much Trivia) who outwitted the rest with their CEQA prowess!
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PHOTO BY DANE VAN TAMELEN, HELIX ENVIRONMENTAL
SDAEP IN 2019 (SO FAR!)
On Valentines Day, SDAEP held a luncheon on the recent Friant Ranch Decision. Thank you to Cristina Gispert and Heidi Rous of ESA for presenting our first luncheon of the year!
san diego aep @ the state conference
We want to give a special shout out to the San Diego AEP members that presented at the conference and won awards, way to represent!
Presenters
Alyssa Helper, LSA Associates, Inc. Session topic: What Is So Fair About the “Fair Argument” Test Anyway? Devon Muto, EDF Renewables Session topic: 2019 CEQA Update & The New CEQA Guidelines: What You Need to Know, Now Joe Monaco, Dudek Session topic: Ocean Water Desalination: The Wave of the Future for California’s Water Supply? S. Wayne Rosenbaum, Environmental Law Group LLP Session topic: Addressing Stormwater Quality and Supply Augmentation in the Urban Environment Tricia Olsen, City of Coronado Session topic: Making Sense of Architectural History City of San Diego Vernal Pool Habitat Conservation Plan EIR/EIS, prepared by the City of San Diego with support from AECOM Carlsbad Review of Herbicide Use and Potential Alternatives, prepared by ESA for the City of Carlsbad (ESA Document Authors: Julie Fontaine, Jim Prine, and Alanna Sullivan) Regional Climate Action Planning Framework, prepared by the San Diego Association of Governments with support from the Energy Policy Initiatives Center and Ascent Environmental Midway Pacific Highway Community Plan, prepared by the City of San Diego Planning Department City of Encinitas Climate Action Plan, prepared by the City of Encinitas with support from SANDAG, Ascent Environmental, and the Energy Policy Initiatives Center City of Vista Climate Action Plan Update Community Outreach, prepared by the City of Vista with support from Rincon Consultants, Inc Award of Appreciation: Julia Norris, 3 years as San Diego Chapter Director
Award Winners
conference PHOTOS
PHOTO BY JASMINE BAKKER, HELIX ENVIRONMENTAL
On February 21st, 2019, we were excited to host nearly 200 environmental professionals at our Advanced CEQA Workshop. Led by our esteemed panel of speakers, Suzanne Varco (Managing Partner, Varco & Rosenbaum Environmental Law Group, LLP), HansPeter Walter (Attorney, Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard), Darin Neufeld (Chief of Departmental Operations for the County of San Diego Planning & Development Services, County of San Diego), and Bob Stark (Associate Vice President, Michael Baker International), we covered the 2018 Case Law Update. The curriculum was tailored to cover an overview to the new CEQA Guidelines and how those revisions effect tiering, transportation, baseline, and greenhouse gas analysis; and deep dives into standard of review in our post-Friant Ranch world and joint CEQA and NEPA documents under the federal directives to streamline NEPA. Putting all jokes related to how OPR should release new guidelines every year aside, we were so honored to host the largest workshop crowd in the known history of this event and want to sincerely thank our members for making that possible. The workshop would also not have been possible without the curriculum preparers, who volunteered their time, largely throughout the holidays, to make the program a success. Finally, in our ongoing efforts to improve the experience for our members and those who attend our events, we are looking at possible options to allow for crowd sizes like this without impacting attendee experience (and trying to avoid 45-minute lunch lines). To that end, we are considering an option to offer two different Advanced CEQA Workshops with locations spread throughout our chapter’s geography on two different days. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any thoughts on this proposal, or to ask any questions about our series of workshops in general (clytle-bonine@chambersgroupinc.com). Speaking of our series of workshops, we are so excited to announce that we will be hosting an Advanced NEPA Workshop this fall! Not sure you’re ready for the Advanced Workshop or want a refresher beforehand? Our NEPA Essentials workshop is scheduled for August 16th. Last, and certainly not least, we’ll round out our 2019 Workshop program with the CEQA Essentials workshop, to be held this fall.
advanCed CEQA workshop RECAP BY CORINNE LYTLE-BONINE, san diego aep chapter director
advanCed CEQA workshop RECAP
meet a board member: janelle firoozi, esa
Originally from Orange County, Janelle attended the University of California, Santa Barbara where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies with a minor in Geological Science. During her time as a student, she worked for the City of Santa Barbara as an intern writing staff reports for the Historic Landmarks Commission and assisting the City with their Historic Resource Design Guidelines. She was also a TA for UCSB’s CEQA Compliance class. After graduating, Janelle relocated to beautiful San Diego to pursue CEQA work, and currently works for Environmental Science Associates (ESA). After (somehow) working full time and going to school full time, Janelle graduated with her Masters in City Planning from San Diego State University. In her free time, Janelle enjoys traveling, hiking with her dog and husband, and camping. You’ve recently taken a new position on the board. What made you want to get more involved and take a leadership position with AEP? I have been a member of AEP since college, but really got involved after I moved to San Diego. After attending workshops, luncheons, and networking events I was able to learn more about the profession and meet even more members. I’ve also been on the Awards Committee for several years helping plan the chapter’s annual awards and scholarship event. When I heard there was an open Board position, I jumped at the opportunity to give back to the organization and become even more involved. What have you enjoyed most about working in the environmental field? I love that every day on the job is so different from the next. There is such a wide spectrum of projects to work on, with each project having its own unique challenges. There is also huge satisfaction in seeing a complex project getting built on the ground - especially after working countless hours, going through tough public review processes, and learning the interworkings of each community. I’ve also enjoyed getting to know team members along the way, each with different perspectives on how to make the world a slightly better place, no matter how big or small the change. What is a skill you would like to learn and why? Become a master bread baker – because bread. If you could only keep 5 possessions, what would they be? I recently binge-listened to a podcast about the next big earthquake, so with that in mind… my dog, my cell phone, an emergency first aid kit, a hand-crank radio, and I suppose I should list a tent! PSA for everyone to listen to The Big One and pack your go-bag!
i LOVE A CLEAN SAN DIEGO workshop Join ILACSD as they team up with the City of Encinitas for Adventures in Sustainability, a FREE educational workshop focused on how to put your passion into action and share the simplicity of sustainability with your community! Where: EUSD Farm Lab located at 441 Quail Gardens Drive Encinitas, CA 92024 When: Saturday, May 4, 2019, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM WILDWATCH SAN DIEGO Help out with the San Diego Zoo's new citizen science project called Wildwatch San Diego, aimed at protecting our native wildlife. The western burrowing owl (Athene cunciularia hypugaea) population in San Diego County is at risk of going locally extinct. Wildwatch San Diego seeks to document the behaviors and developmental milestones of burrowing owl families “holed up” in Otay Mesa, CA. This new project invites citizens to volunteer their time and participate in real science from their mobile device or computer. You can view the project here: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/ sandiegozooglobal/wildwatch-san-diego
PHOTO BY WENDY TURNER, ECORP CONSULTING
Announcements
UC SAN DIEGO EXTENSION: Upcoming courses CEQA in Practice, Online 4/29/2019-6/8/2019 Writing Effective CEQA Documents, Online 4/22/2019-5/31/2019 7/8/2019-8/17/2019 Introduction to NEPA, Online 7/8/2019-9/7/2019 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 6/24/2019-8/3/2019 7/8/2019-8/19/2019 7/29/2019-9/7/2019 CEQA Project Management 7/8/2019-9/6/2019 Advanced CEQA 7/1/2019-8/30/2019
SDAEPBoard@califaep.org President Katie Laybourn Harris & Associates katie.laybourn@weareharris.com Co-Vice Presidents of Programs Janelle Firoozi ESA jfiroozi@esassoc.com Lisa Maier ESA LMaier@esassoc.com Vice President of Membership Thomas Strand Chambers Group tstrand@chambersgroupinc.com Treasurer Emily Pacholski Kleinfelder epacholski@kleinfelder.com Secretary Matt Stewart ICF matt.stewart@icf.com Student Membership and Outreach Director Kelsey Hawkins Harris & Associates kelsey.hawkins@weareharris.com Chapter Director Corinne Lytle Bonine Chambers Group clytle-bonine@chambersgroupinc.com Newsletter Editor Erin Phillips AECOM erin.phillips@aecom.com
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Contact the Newsletter Editor at: sdaepnews@gmail.com
Chapter Contacts
2019 chapter BOARD
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