Redhill Gateway from Upland on Historic Rte 66

On Tuesday, April 4, at the 23rd National Planning Conference in Philadelphia, the Sustainable Communities Division of the American Planning Association announced the six winners of the 10th annual awards for excellence in sustainability.

These awards honor projects, plans, policies, individuals and organizations whose work is dedicated to supporting sustainable communities, and represent extraordinary achievements in six sustainable planning categories.  The Rancho Cucamonga General Plan and Climate Action Plan received the Community-wide Award, having previously received awards from the Inland Empire and California Chapters of the APA.  As part of a large, multi-discipinary team of City staff and consulting professionals, Sargent Town Planning was a principal author of the Vision Volume, Built Environment Volume, and the Placemaking Toolkit in the Implementation Strategy Volume.  The Plan lays out a series of strategies to chart a path toward building a 21st century world-class community that is grounded in the City Council's foundational core values of health, equity, and stewardship. The intent of the Plan is to enhance the community with a wide variety of housing, recreation, arts and culture, entertainment, and employment opportunities that are well-connected and accessible to everyone, and to preserve the character, history, and quality of life that continue to make Rancho Cucamonga a special place to live.

On June 1, 2020, Smart Growth American and the Form-Based Codes Institute announced that Rancho Cucamonga's Etiwanda Heights Neighborhood & Conservation Plan (EHNCP) was one of two form-based codes to be recognized with a 2020 Driehaus Award.

The award, now in its twelfth year, is made possible by the generous support of the Richard H. Driehaus Charitable Lead Trust, and recognizes communities that have adopted and implemented exemplary form-based zoning codes. 

The jury found the EHNCP commendable for the way in which it balances and connects walkable neighborhoods and very large amounts of permanently conserved rural open space and natural habitat. Sargent Town Planning prepared the plan and code in tight and seamless collaboration with a very talented planning and design team and the City of Rancho Cucamonga's professional staff, without whose strong and creative support this result would not have been possible.  This is the fourth time that Sargent Town Planning's work has been recognized by the Driehaus Trust and the Form-Based Codes Institute.

At its 2018 Regional Conference & General Assembly in Indian Wells, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) presented Sustainability Awards in six categories, including the "Against All Odds Award" presented to the City of San Fernando for its Corridors Specific Plan. 

At its 2018 Regional Conference & General Assembly in Indian Wells, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) presented Sustainability Awards in six categories, including the "Against All Odds Award" presented to the City of San Fernando for its Corridors Specific Plan. 

Sargent Town Planning prepared the plan through a sometimes contentious public engagement process of almost four years - under a grant from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) - ending with the City Council's enthusiastic adoption of the Plan in late 2017.  The awards were presented by Randall Winston, the Executive Director of the Strategic Growth Council, the State agency that provides much of the funding that SCAG and Metro award to cities to support planning focused on long-term sustainability.  Accepting the award were (above, left to right); Jack Wong, Interim Community Development Director at plan adoption; Peter VanderWal, senior urban designer with Sargent Town Planning; City Manager Alex Meyerhoff; Vice Mayor Antonio Lopez; Finance Director Nick Kimball; Community Development Director Tim Hou; and David Sargent.

Mary Madden, Driehaus Award Jury Chair, presenting award to STP

At the Charter Awards Ceremony on May 5 - held during the Congress for the New Urbanism's 25th Congress in Seattle, Washington - the Form-Based Codes Institute honored Sargent Town Planning's Palm Desert University Neighborhood Specific Plan with one of two annual Driehaus Awards.

Mary Madden, chair of this year's Driehaus Award jury, and Lisa Wise, Chair of the FBCI Board of Directors, presented the STP team with the award.  Present to accept the award were Ryan Stendell, Palm Desert's Community Development Director; David Sargent, Peter VanderWal and Yuan Liu of STP; and John Baucke of New Urban Realty Advisors. In selecting this code for recognition, the jury noted the code's innovative approach to flexibly regulating the subdivision and street network of the neighborhood, the clarity of the development standards, and the document's organization with design guidelines in a separate volume.  

Hallock Neighborhood Center

At their annual awards dinner on April 23, the Central Coast Section of the American Planning Association announced that that the Santa Paula East Area One Specific Plan has received its 2016 Award of Excellence for a Comprehensive Plan - Small Jurisdication .

David Sargent was present to receive the award along with Harold Edwards, Limoneira CEO; Mike Penrod, Founding Partner of Parkstone Companies; Tony Locacciato, AICP, Partner, Meridian Consultants; Rob Talmadge of Jensen Design & Survey, and Martin Hernandez, Mayor of Santa Paula. Sargent and the Limoneira team began work on the 400 acre plan in 2006, receiving approval from 81% of Santa Paula voters in 2008 final annexation clearances 2015.  

In his acceptance remarks Harold Edwards, Limoneira's CEO said “Limoneira’s mission statement involves community development, and we are proud to continue our legacy of stewardship within the Santa Paula community.  Responsible community development involves building consensus across all constituencies within a community, and receiving this award from the Central Coast Chapter of the American Planning Association (CCAPA) provides further validation of our success in connecting with the City of Santa Paula as well as the Santa Paula community on a project that benefits everyone.  We couldn’t be more proud of the partnership we have forged with the City of Santa Paula, Parkstone Companies, Meridian Consultants, Jensen Design & Survey and Sargent Town Planning to create the Santa Paula East Area project, now called The Harvest at Limoneira, and we are thrilled to take the next step towards realizing the buildout of this exciting project.  This project has involved years of thoughtful planning and the realization of all our work will now become evident as The Harvest at Limoneira is built." 

At their awards dinner in Redlands, California, the Inland Empire Section of the California Chapter of the American Planning Association recognized the Coachella General Plan with their 2015 Comprehensive Plan Award, Small Jurisdiction.

 The planning team was led by Raimi + Associates, with Sargent Town Planning leading the urban design work and Fehr & Peers responsible for transportation planning.  The plan provides a community framework of green avenues and waterway corridors to structure and organize growth – in the form of walkable neighborhoods and districts – within a very large planning area over the course of the balance of the century.

The Central Section of the California Chapter of the American Planning Association has announced that Merced's Bellevue Community Plan has received the 2015 Outstanding Planning Award for Comprehensive Planning by a Small Jurisdiction.

The award recognizes the work of the City of Merced, Lisa Wise Consulting, Sargent Town Planning; Tony Perez Associates; Nelson Nygaard; and Economic & Planning Systems, Inc. The team worked closely with a Community Advisory Committee and Technical Advisory Committee to craft this long-term plan for the phased development of over 2,000 acres as walkable, transit-oriented neighborhoods, community centers and employment districts connecting the City of Merced to the University of California Merced.

Mountain View's North Bayshore Precise Plan won the 2015 Award for Comprehensive Plan, Small Jurisdiction, from the California Northern Section of the American Planning Association. North Bayshore is home to Google, Intuit, LinkedIn, and other major Silicon Valley companies.

To keep pace with the rapid growth of these busines----s – and to help them recruit and retain the young professionals that drive their gr----th – the City of Mountain View retained the team of Raimi + Associates, Sargent Town Planning, Nelson\Nyggard and others to craft a plan to transform the existing 1980's vintage business park and into a more intense, walkable, transit-oriented and highly sustainable 21st Century employment district. In keeping with Mountain View's strong commitment to environmental sustainability, the plan balances the intensification of business activity within the transit-rich district core with incen----ves – including transfers of development ----ghts – to improve the natural habitat along the edge of the San Francisco Bay.