APA news release:
For Immediate Release April 17, 2008
Contact:
Dean C. Palos, FAICP, 913-715-2220, dean.palos@jocogov.org
Ryan Scherzinger, 202-349-1008, rscherzinger@planning.org

Area Planner Recognized Among Top in Field

Washington, D.C. – The American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) will induct Dean C. Palos, FAICP of Olathe, Kan., into the elite membership of AICP’s College of Fellows at a black-tie ceremony to be held April 27 in conjunction with the American Planning Association’s (APA) National Planning Conference in Las Vegas, Nev.

“The AICP College of Fellows recognizes individuals who've made exceptional contributions to the planning profession,” said AICP President Graham Billingsley, AICP. “The Fellows have devoted their careers to excellence in planning and they set the highest standards for professional planners today,” he added.

Election to the Fellowship may be granted to planners who have been longtime members of AICP and have demonstrated excellence in professional practice, teaching and mentoring, research, community service, leadership, and communication. Altogether, 49 planners from 22 states will be inducted into the AICP College of Fellows at the ceremony, which will be held at Bally’s in Las Vegas.

All planners who have been certified by AICP use the letters “AICP” after their names. Fellows, however, are designated with the letters “FAICP.” Currently, more than 15,500 practicing urban and rural planners in North America and elsewhere have AICP certification. Of those, approximately 400 have attained the status of Fellow.

Palos is being named a Fellow of AICP for individual achievement in the planning profession. His 35-year planning career has touched nearly every facet of the profession – from the public sector to consulting to teaching to volunteerism. Palos is a recognized advocate of building great communities through coordinated, broad, and inclusive planning.

Currently Palos is director of planning for Johnson County, Kan., where he is responsible for all planning functions for a first-ring, suburban county within the Kansas City metropolitan region. His portfolio of responsibilities includes comprehensive planning; zoning, airport, floodplain, and subdivision regulations; and policy development.

“While Dean has many outstanding skills and accomplishments, his greatest is his courage to take stances in the name of good planning against development proposals by well-financed and well-connected applicants that are not acting in the best long-term interest of a community,” said Roger Kroh, AICP, director of planning and development for the City of Lenexa, Kan. “As the urban planner in the 1980s for the City of Lawrence, Kansas – home of the University of Kansas – Dean vigorously opposed the first application received by the city for a small suburban mall….The city commission was convinced by Dean to turn down the application and preserve Lawrence’s very Norman Rockwell-like downtown.”

AICP is the professional institute of the American Planning Association. For more than 80 years, AICP has promoted professional excellence in the field of planning by setting high standards for competence, education, experience, and ethical conduct, and by articulating the future of the planning profession.

The 2008 National Planning Conference, which is being held April 27 through May 1 at Bally’s Las Vegas, is the 100th annual conference of its kind in the U.S. The first planning conference took place in Washington, D.C., in May 1909.

The American Planning Association and its professional institute, the American Institute of Certified Planners, are dedicated to advancing the art, science and profession of good planning -- physical, economic and social -- so as to create communities that offer better choices for where and how people work and live. Members of APA help create communities of lasting value and encourage civic leaders, business interests and citizens to play a meaningful role in creating communities that enrich people's lives. APA has offices in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Ill., and Shanghai, China. For more information, visit its website at www.planning.org.