Schedule 2019

Make plans to join us Thursday and Friday, May 23 - 24 in Baton Rouge for our annual state conference themed "Partners in Planning." In lieu of a full 3-day conference with multiple lecture tracks, this year's event will provide CMs including Law and Ethics, as well as focus on how we as professional planners can impact the introduction, enactment or modification of legislation. Below is an overview of the conference schedule.

Schedule at a Glance

Thursday, May 23    
8 - 9:15 am Chapter Business Meeting Baton Rouge Area Chamber, 564 Laurel Street
9:30 - 10:30 am Advocacy Session: National and State Discussion led by Whitney Hoffman Sayal, AICP and Derek Chisholm, AICP, LEED GA, ENV SP
10:30 - 12:00 noon Ethics Session (1.5 CM ETHICS) led by Sean Daly, AICP
12:00 - 1:00 pm Lunch and Advocacy Prep  
1 - 4:00 pm Advocacy at the Capitol Louisiana State Capitol, Memorial Hall
4 - 5:00 pm Break  
5 - 7:00 pm Chapter Social & "Partners in Planning" Awards "The Loft" at Cecelia Creole Bistro, 421 N 3rd Street
  Dinner on your own  
Friday, May 24    
8 - 10 am Law Session (1.5 CM LAW)

Baton Rouge Area Chamber​
Speakers: Niki Pace, J.D., Louisiana Sea Grant and Beaux Jones - General Counsel, Water Institute of the Gulf

10 - 12 noon Mobile Workshops (included) LSU Center for River Studies or Downtown Walking Tours
12 - 2:00 pm Red Stick Social (paid by attendee) Bowling and lunch at Baton Rouge's brand new entertainment venue in the Electric Depot, 1503 Government Street

 

Speakers

Whitney Hoffman SayalWhitney Hoffman Sayal, AICP
Legislative Advocacy Session Lead

Whitney serves as Vice President of the Louisiana Chapter of the American Planning Association and chair of the Legislative Committee.  She is also the Development Project Director at the Baton Rouge Downtown Development District, serving in that position since 2012. Prior to her work at the DDD, she gained professional experience in the private, non-profit, and government sectors managing multiple types and scopes of projects, plans, and programs.

Sean DalySean Daly, AICP
Ethics Session Speaker

Sean Daly serves as Professional Development Officer for the Louisiana Chapter of the American Planning Association and is current Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers Louisiana Section Transportation and Development Institute. In his day job, he is a senior planner at Iteris, Inc. and has almost 20 years of transportation planning experience in private consulting and at state and federal positions. He earned his Master of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania.

Niki PaceNiki Pace, J.D.
Law Session Co-Speaker

Niki Pace currently serves as Sustainability Coordinator at Louisiana Sea Grant Law & Policy Program. She earned a Juris Doctorate in law and Master of Laws in environmental and natural resources from Lewis and Clark Law School. She has over ten years of experience in law relating to environmental issues as an attorney, law clerk, and professor and is also a certified floodplain manager.

Beaux JonesBeaux Jones, J.D.
Law Session Co-Speaker

Beaux Jones is the General Counsel of the Water Institute of the Gulf. Prior to joining the Institute, Jones served as the environmental section chief for the Louisiana Department of Justice, where he represented the State of Louisiana and its agencies in a wide variety of matters ranging from environmental and coastal law to criminal and appellate law. He most recently worked as an environmental and coastal lawyer for the law firm Baldwin Haspel Burke & Mayer in New Orleans.

 

Program Description

Thursday - Day 1

Starting location: Baton Rouge Area Chamber

The annual Chapter business meeting will lead off our conference on Thursday morning. Then, following guidelines developed by the American Planning Association, we will continue with a workshop providing a framework and tools for interacting with our legislators, providing both a state and national perspective. An Ethics session will be held. After lunch, we'll visit the Louisiana State Capitol where we're arranging to have a table set up, and hope to speak to many of our legislators who will be in session. CM credits will be available for the lecture sessions.

That evening, we'll enjoy an informal social at "The Loft" at Cecelia Creole Bistro including a presentation of awards recognizing our partners in planning. Specifically, this year our awards will be targeted to persons outside of APA-LA - such as legislators, elected officials, journalists, or allied professions - whose accomplishments we wish to recognize and whose successes we'd like to replicate in other communities.

Friday - Day 2

Starting location: Baton Rouge Area Chamber

A topical lecture session covering Law training requirements will be offered. You'll also have the choice of mobile workshops (included in your registration fee) - including the Center for River Studies at The Water Campus (yes, this features the big Mississippi River model); or a walking tour of new developments and public space improvements in downtown Baton Rouge.

Afterwards, we're hoping to gather mid-day Friday at Red Stick Social, the entertainment venue in Baton Rouge's brand new "Electric Depot" redevelopment project on Government Street for lunch (on your own), bowling, and fun. 

For those traveling from out of town, lodging will be at Hotel Indigo where we're reserving a block of rooms.