The Windham Regional Commission (WRC) seeks a highly skilled, self-motivated, full-time (37.5 hrs./wk.) Planner or Senior Planner (depending upon experience) with a municipal and regional planning background and desire to work in a rural context with a team of dedicated professionals, volunteer WRC Commissioners, and municipal officials. The WRC is the regional planning commission for a 27-town, 920 square mile area of southeastern Vermont in Windham, Bennington, and Windsor counties. Our mission is to assist towns in southeast Vermont with providing effective local governance and to work collaboratively with them to address regional issues.
This planner works under the direct supervision of the Executive Director principally in support of town plan and zoning bylaw development, and special planning projects such as local hazard mitigation plan development This is grassroots planning, requiring the ability and enthusiasm to work directly with the public, volunteer planning commissions and commissioners, and town staff. The majority of towns with which we work have no professional planning staff and very limited administrative capacity (town populations range from 6 to 12,000). Knowledge of planning areas is necessarily broad, and includes land use and working landscapes, community and economic development, natural resources and water quality, transportation, hazard mitigation, climate resilience and adaptation, energy (efficiency, greenhouse gas reduction, and renewable energy siting), and diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice. While landscape architecture or urban design skills to support community planning efforts are not required, they are a skill set that we need.
Job tasks include supporting municipal planning commissions in their efforts to develop plans and zoning bylaws, special municipal planning projects and plan implementation projects, presenting planning concepts to the Commission and the public, research on planning concepts and precedents, staffing WRC committees, and fielding general inquiries from town officials related to planning, plan and bylaw implementation, and local governance. Must be able to manage multiple projects at any given time.
Candidates should be familiar with regional and municipal planning tools (regulatory and non-regulatory), and must have excellent writing, public speaking, meeting facilitation, team building, inclusive public engagement, community organizing, project development, grant writing, and project management skills. As is noted above, landscape architecture or urban design skills to aid with planning visualization are a plus but not required. Experience working with rural communities is also a plus. Four to five months of winter driving on rural roads is a fact of life.
The position of Planner requires a degree in planning or a closely related field (including landscape architecture, architecture, geography, public administration/policy, etc.) and a minimum of 3 years’ experience in rural municipal and/or regional planning. A master’s degree in planning or a closely related field may be substituted for one year of required experience. The position of Senior Planner requires a minimum of 5 years’ experience in rural municipal and/or regional planning, including at least one year’s experience in staff supervision or as a project manager, or the equivalent experience in the administration and implementation of adopted policies and objectives. Candidates should also demonstrate experience working with complex regulations and issues.
Please email a letter of interest and resume (with references and contact information) in a single pdf to Chris Campany, Executive Director at ccampany@windhamregional.org. Recent graduates are encouraged to describe direct experience with planning and public engagement, including that done through coursework. This position will remain open until filled. To learn more about the WRC, visit our website at www.windhamregional.org. No phone calls please. WRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Email: ccampany@windhamregional.org
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