Awards

Applications will be due by Sunday, February 16, 2025.

Questions? Please email Awards Program Co-Directors, Carlina Rose and Danae Hall, at: awards@norcalapa.org.

The purpose of the Northern Awards Program is to encourage quality in planning and increase the public’s awareness of the planning profession by recognizing outstanding achievements in the planning field. Each year, Northern bestows Planning Awards to honor the most outstanding planning efforts throughout the section. The program honors innovative plans and projects, distinguished APA members, and lay contributors to planning throughout Northern. Often, our section winners ascend to win awards at the State and National levels!

More details are coming soon.

Each year, APA California — Northern bestows Planning Awards to honor the most outstanding planning efforts. The jury was impressed with the high quality of applications across the board. After careful deliberation, the results are in, and we are excited to share them with you!

Awards Category	Organization	Name of Project	Award (Excellence/Merit)
Academic	Lena Rogow, UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies and UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs	Assessing Public Outreach about Slow Streets in San Francisco	Excellence
Academic	Ryan Caro, UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies and UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs	Using Data Science for Equity at SFMTA	Merit
Best Practices	Community Planning Collaborative with Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa and Nevada Counties	Mother Lode ADU	Excellence
Best Practices	Rincon Consultants, Inc. and 4Leaf, Inc.	Housing Connect tool for the Napa Sonoma Collaborative	Merit
Communications Initiative	City of Concord/Community Development Department	Concord Community Academy’s, Community Development Session – An evening engaging with staff for a mock Planning Commission meeting	Excellence
Comprehensive Plan – Large Jurisdiction	City of Sunnyvale / Raimi + Associates	Moffett Park Specific Plan	Excellence
Comprehensive Plan – Small Jurisdiction	Dyett & Bhatia, City of Napa	Napa 2040 General Plan (General Plan Update)	Merit
Economic Planning and Development	City of Berkeley	Zoning Amendments for Berkeley Business	Excellence
Economic Planning and Development	City of Newark, Rhoades Planning Group, Lexington Planning	Old Town Newark Specific Plan	Merit
Hard-Won Victories	City of Watsonville / Raimi + Associates	Downtown Watsonville Specific Plan	Excellence
Opportunity/ Empowerment	City of Oakland Planning and Building Department, Dyett and Bhatia, and Deeply Rooted Collaborative	Oakland 2045 General Plan Update Phase 1	Excellence
Planning Agency (public sector)	City of Campbell	City of Campbell Planning	Excellence
Public Outreach	Town of Corte Madera and Plan to Place	Town of Corte Madera Housing Element Update (2023 – 2031)	Excellence
Public Outreach	DWR and Dudek	Underrepresented Communities Technical Assistance Program: Communication, Engagement, Facilitation, and Technical Assistance for Tribal Governments, Unrepresented Communities, and Small Socially Disadvantaged Farmers	Merit
Resilience and Sustainability	The Trust for Public Land (TPL) / WRT / ESA / Trout Unlimited	Reimagine San Geronimo: A Vision Framework	Excellence
Resilience and Sustainability	Sonoma County and Rincon Consultants, Inc.	Sonoma County Carbon Inventory and Sequestration Potential Study	Merit
Transportation Planning	City of San Pablo	City of San Pablo Contra Costa College Mobility Hub Plan	Excellence
Transportation Planning	City of San José and Fehr & Peers	San José Downtown Transportation Plan	Merit
Urban Design	CMG Landscape Architecture	San Francisco Civic Center Public Realm Plan	Excellence
Urban Design	Dyett & Bhatia, Sonoma County	Sonoma Developmental Center Specific Plan	Merit

In addition to the aforementioned awards, the Northern Director bestowed the following special recognition awards:

• Special Recognition Award: Emerging Planner – Carlina Rose
• Special Recognition Award: Mid-Career Planner – Omar Masry, AICP
• Special Recognition Award: Distinguished Planner – Darcy Kremin, AICP

The Northern Board would like to extend a huge thank you to our panel of jurors for taking the time to review each application thoroughly and for engaging in thoughtful deliberation. Our 2024 Jury was comprised of:

• Anne Hersch, AICP, Land Use Planning Manager, City of Berkeley
• Audrey Maria Zagazeta, Chief Executive Officer, Circlepoint
• Kim Walton, Senior Transportation Planner, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
• Timothy Rood AICP, LEED AP, Community Development Director, City of Hercules
• Veronica Tam, Owner, Veronica Tam and Associates