Otak Blog

Two Otak employees from our Lake Oswego, Oregon office passed the Professional Engineering exam. Congratulations to our newest PEs: Rose Horton and Terry Soltz.

Otak recently won a “Best Project Study” award from the American Planning Association, Arizona Chapter for its work on the Redevelopment Plan Update for the Town of Florence, AZ. As prime consultant, Otak worked with the Town to develop a plan that would revitalize the historic downtown core to accommodate an increase in jobs and its first master planned community.

Situated along the banks of the Gila River 60 miles southeast of Phoenix, Florence is the state’s sixth oldest settlement. Aside from obvious improvements, much of the historic downtown core remains as it was in the 1880s. The plan, which was adopted by the Town in February 2009, includes goals and policies to increase the residential component of downtown, create a mixed-use district, reinforce compact building design, and strengthen and preserve the existing mixed-use character of the historic core.

Other goals and policies include strengthening walkable neighborhoods; preserving open space, farmland and natural beauty; and providing for a variety of transportation choices.

From Brad Kilby, Planner:
I’m currently in Abu Dhabi training staff at the Urban Planning Council (UPC) and the Abu Dhabi Municipality (ADM) on the Abu Dhabi Development Code. The code was created by a core team of writers led by none other than our own Joe Dills and Dave Siegel. Otak was asked to imbed a planner, along with UPC staff, within the ADM to assist the integration of the code into existing development review procedures.

The first four weeks were spent training both agencies on the code. Most of the UPC staff are from English-speaking countries around the world, predominantly Canada, Australia, and England; whereas, most of the ADM staff are from Arab speaking countries including Egypt, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates. Luckily, Rudayna Abdo from our Abu Dhabi office was there to assist in the training. She was a large help in its success. So, now I am the imbedded planner at the ADM and am working with enthusiastic staff to launch the new development code.

The past few weeks were spent building rapport and observing the processes at the ADM. The next few weeks will include one-on-one training with the reviewers, meetings with agency heads, and a flurry of recommendations to help the ADM implement the code. ADM staff are very excited to launch the new code and see it as a positive tool in transforming Abu Dhabi into a very progressive and conscientious city.

We hope to continue our successes with both agencies and will continue to work with UPC after this testing period to officially launch the development code. The process will include a large public relations campaign with the public, landowners, and their consultants followed by a ratification of the code by the Abu Dhabi executive government.