• Paul Crawford, FAICP, Principal
• Chris Wm. Clark, JD AICP, Principal
• Dave Moran, Senior Associate
• Nicole Carter, Associate,Environmental Specialist

Paul C. Crawford, FAICP, CNU, Principal

Since forming CMCA with Mike Multari in early 1990, Paul Crawford has been involved with zoning ordinance preparation, comprehensive planning, and computer applications for a wide variety of cities and counties. A nationally recognized expert in zoning codes, his work on over 80 California codes includes those for Calaveras, Marin, Placer, San Luis Obispo, Solano, and Sonoma counties, and the cities of Chico, Culver City, Hollister, Mountain View, Pasadena, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, South Pasadena, Stockton, and West Hollywood. Crawford has also worked since 1990 on: over 30 city and county general plans; Local Coastal Programs for the cities of Carmel by-the-Sea, Malibu, Pacific Grove, and Guadalupe; a 12,000-acre specific plan for Solano County; and Energy Elements of the General Plan for Glenn and San Luis Obispo counties. He served as interim planning director for the City of Buellton for the first two years after the incorporation of that City. Crawford is currently working on new zoning codes for the cities of Azusa, Brentwood, Grass Valley, Petaluma, and Santa Rosa, and Santa Barbara and Sonoma counties, and new general plans for the cities of Sonoma and Ventura

Prior to founding CMCA, Paul Crawford was Director of Planning and Building for San Luis Obispo County from 1980 to 1990. He concurrently served as Executive Director of the San Luis Obispo County Council of Governments. In both roles, he managed over 85 staff, with an annual budget of over $4 million. Under his management, San Luis Obispo County: updated the Land Use, Circulation and Housing Elements of the General Plan; prepared several specific plans (including initiation of a joint city-county effort); obtained Community Development Block Grant funds for low-income housing programs; received certification of the county's Local Coastal Program from the California Coastal Commission; and completed successful permit process streamlining efforts. In 1988, Crawford directed the processing of land use permits and preparation of an EIS/EIR for a major onshore support facility and pipeline as part of a new offshore oil project. From 1984 to 1989, he served on a tri-county advisory committee on offshore oil issues established by the Governor's Secretary of Environmental Affairs.

The San Luis Obispo County Department of Planning and Building also achieved significant advances in office automation under Crawford's management. Paul was acknowledged in the September, 1989 issue of Planning magazine ("Stalking the Wild Permit," page 24) as having developed one of the first automated permit tracking systems in the nation. He has also performed extensive research and development work in the automation of zoning information retrieval and zoning ordinance administration. Among the results of that work was an automated zoning information system for San Luis Obispo County, including 24-hour zoning information service to the public (the "Zone Phone").

Before his tenure as planning and building director, Paul was the project manager for the county's comprehensive Land Use Element/Land Use Ordinance, a single-map integrated land use policy and regulatory system that replaced the more traditional two-document zoning ordinance and general plan format. He personally drafted the Land Use Ordinance. This innovative project won the American Planning Association California Chapter meritorious program award in 1981.

Mr. Crawford has also worked as interim Planning Director for the City of Pismo Beach and served in a variety of capacities for cities in the California Central Valley. Before his public sector work, Paul was a private consultant in Visalia, where he worked on a number of land use and site planning projects and prepared several EIRs. He also designed streetscape elements for Visalia's downtown revitalization program, designed neighborhood parks and served as a staff advisor for a Housing Authority.

Paul Crawford earned his B.S. degree in City and Regional Planning at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. Since 1980, he has served as adjunct professor in the Cal Poly City and Regional Planning Department, where he teaches annual courses in Public Agency Planning Practice, and Planning Agency Management; and has also regularly taught Introduction to Urban Planning. He was selected by the Cal Poly College of Architecture and Environmental Design as 1990-91 Honored Alumnus. He has also served on the faculty of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, UC Davis Extension, and UCLA Extension, where has taught professional development courses in zoning code drafting, and geographic information systems (GIS).

Crawford is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), American Planning Association (APA), and the Association of Environmental Professionals (AEP). He is also a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), and currently serves as co-chair of its Planners Task Force. He was president of the California County Planning Directors Association in 1988 and 1989. He has participated extensively in the legislative review activities of the County Supervisors Association of California (CSAC), and received a CSAC Circle of Service Award in 1989, for that work. He also served on the Board of Trustees of the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County, and on the CalTrans District V External Advisory Committee. In October 1998, he received the Award of Excellence for Leadership as a Professional Planner from the California Chapter of the American Planning Association. In March 2001, he was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners, in recognition of his leadership and contributions to the planning field.

Crawford was elected to the California Planning Roundtable in 1993, served as its Secretary in 1997 and 1998, as Vice President for Programs in 1999, and as president in 2000. He was the editor of two Roundtable reports: Who Wins, Who Loses - Social Equity in Planning, in 1995; and Planning in the Eastern Sierra - Improving Intergovernmental Coordination, Public Involvement and Land Use Decisions, in 2002. Crawford also designed, and serves as webmaster for the California Planning Roundtable website: www.cproundtable.org.

Mr. Crawford is an excellent communicator, whether writing or speaking, and has the ability to make highly technical information understandable without trivializing content. He is a good meeting facilitator and mediator and is able to help groups work through complex problems to solutions. His experience as a professional photographer and film maker also enhances the clarity and effectiveness of the documents and public participation programs he produces. (His photos have been published in a variety of periodicals, and his documentary film (co-written, produced, and directed with John F. Slaven) The World Within is being used by school districts, national and state parks throughout the United States. He also was one of the authors and a principal commentator in two planning videos: Why Plan?, and The Role and Responsibility of the Planning Commissioner.) In his various capacities he has earned a reputation for thoughtfulness, thoroughness and political sensitivity.

Chris Wm. Clark, JD, AICP, Principal

A planner and a lawyer, Mr. Clark has more than 20 years professional experience in law, land use regulation and environmental and community planning and project management. Prior to joining CMCA, he managed the San Luis Obispo office of Fugro West, an international engineering firm.

Mr. Clark holds a Juris Doctorate from Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, New Hampshire. He holds an M.A. and B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Oregon. He has completed additional graduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in science and policy. In addition, he has completed continuing education courses in water law, hazardous waste litigation, coastal systems, zoning, wetlands regulations, land development, ground water management, EIR preparation, and impact fees. He is admitted to practice law in California, Massachusetts, and the Federal District Court.

Mr. Clark also teaches Land Use Law, Water Resources Law and Policy, and Environ­mental Law, upper division and graduate classes (since 1992) at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Mr. Clark has written numerous municipal general plans, environmental impact reports, zoning ordinances, environmental regulations, and ground water management plans. He managed the preparation of a new Safety Element for the County of San Luis Obispo general plan, which won the California Chapter APA 2000 Comprehensive Planning Award. He managed or assisted with the Avila Beach Unocal Clean-up Project, the Los Osos Wastewater Project, the Resources Study of San Luis Obispo County on behalf of The Nature Conservancy and several elements of the County’s General Plan.

Mr. Clark has worked with various land trust and other land preservation organizations providing assistance in the development of programs and documents (deeds, trusts, conservation easements) designed to institute these organization's objectives. He served as a member of the board of directors of a non-profit land preservation trust. He is the President of the Bay Foundation, the governing board of the Morro Bay National Estuary Program.

David Moran, Senior Associate

At CMCA, David Moran has focused on the preparation of general plans, specific plans, environmental review guidelines, and assisting various cities in the preparation of redevelopment plans and the processing of large development projects. He was project planner for the English Hills Specific Plan for Solano County (where he was extensively involved with a citizens' advisory committee), the draft environmental impact report for the update of the City of Atascadero General Plan, and the Buellton General Plan and EIR.

Mr. Moran also offers past experience in public agency development review, housing programs and air quality management. He worked as an Associate Planner for the City of San LuisObispo before joining CMCA. In that capacity he served as project manager for a number of complex development projects, ordinances and general plan revisions. He was the principal staff planner for a variety of special studies involving student housing issues, residential density, affordable housing, specific plans and the city's High Occupancy Residential Use Regulations. Mr. Moran was the project manager for complex and controversial development projects including the restoration and re-use of historic commercial buildings, general plan updates, hospital expansion, and major commercial centers.

Mr. Moran's previous government experience includes work as a staff planner for city of Hollister, where he was responsible for writing and implementing the city's development review and environmental review procedures.

Before entering the urban planning field, he worked as an Air Quality Specialist for Ventura County where he helped establish siting criteria to minimize the air quality impacts of major onshore and offshore oil and gas facilities.

Mr. Moran received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara, in physical geography and environmental studies.

Nicole Carter, Environmental Specialist

Since joining the firm in 1999, Nicole Carter has focused on environmental review and consultation. Her current projects include the Estero Area Plan EIR, environmental review for the County Operations Center, the Los Osos Sewer EIR, and numerous project for Cal Poly State University, including turf and water management plans, a Housing EIR, and ongoing mitigation monitoring for the Sports Complex and Parking Structure. Ms. Carter has been involved in all aspects of these projects, including document setup and formatting, background research, required environmental analysis, and consultation with federal and state agencies.

Prior to her position at CMCA, Ms. Carter worked as an environmental coordinator for Fetzer Vineyards in Hopland, California. In this capacity, she monitored water use and quality at Fetzer's large production facility. She authored fiscal budget proposals for system improvements, and ensured compliance with applicable regulations. She implemented and monitored an experimental wetland wastewater treatment system for the facility in conjunction with UC Davis, and performed extensive laboratory testing and data analysis to determine system efficiency, as well as long-term planning for wastewater reclamation. She was the principal contact for the RWQCB permitting of the system and ensured CEQA compliance for the project. At Fetzer, Ms. Carter received training in database setup and management, as well as computer-assisted data analysis.

Ms. Carter received her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Studies from University of Oregon in Eugene. As part of her education, she spent a semester studying wetlands and hydrology in Sapporo, Japan, which resulted in a paper presented at an international conference in Japan in 1997. She continued her research in hydrology her senior year, and completed her senior project investigating impacts on riparian systems associated with urban and agricultural development. She also conducted research on non-point source pollution for the NRDC, and completed projects researching and implementing sustainable agricultural practices. Her education provided her with a strong knowledge of water systems and management, as well as applicable legislation.