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Our Staff
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Jean A. Celender
POSITION: President
EDUCATION:
AWARDS AND OFFICES:
EXPERIENCE:
Ms. Celender, as founder in 1985 and President of JAC Planning Corp., directs all project activities, including scoping of environmental impact studies, regulatory review analyses, zoning and land use planning studies, public participation programs, site feasibility analyses and permit applications. She has over twenty two years' experience in planning, zoning, regulatory compliance procedures, environmental science and municipal management.
Ms. Celender has responsibility for management, research, analysis and presentation development for a wide range of planning studies and environmental assessments. She provides expert testimony on land use/zoning and environmental impacts, including historic preservation, community character and aesthetics for a variety of development proposals. She is expert in environmental analyses, public participation and community relations, land use/zoning analyses and interpretation of code requirements and presentation strategies.
Currently, Ms. Celender is performing community outreach efforts for the construction project to rehabilitate or replace bridges on the Long Island Expressway from Exits 32 to 40 in Nassau County, New York. She was previously the outreach coordinator on a similar award-winning construction contract for the LIE/SOBE Interchange and connecting HOV lanes from Exits 40 to 49 of the LIE in the Syosset area. For the LIE/SOBE Interchange project, she was also involved in the design phases assisting in the preparation of the Draft and Final Environmental Impact Statements (EIS’s), and implementing the public participation program, including public information meetings, scoping sessions, design public hearing and Community Advisory Group meetings. She is also managing EIS’s and environmental assessments for residential, retail and office development projects in the Towns of North Hempstead, Oyster Bay and Huntington.
She is also Principal-in-Charge of JAC Planning's efforts on a major regional transportation study for the New York State Department of Transportation, the LITP 2000 Study, which will develop a staged plan of short and long-term actions to implement solutions to identified constraints. This project, a federally funded Major Investment Study (MIS), emphasizes the importance of public involvement in transportation studies and provides an orderly project development with community participation throughout the process. JAC Planning Corp.’s primary role on LITP 2000 is in assisting the NYSDOT in community outreach components, many of which include innovative techniques and firsts in term of the level of participation involved. As examples, the project had a televised Electronic Town Meeting and an open house at Smith Haven Mall to enable greater public awareness of the study and to solicit public input on the draft Plan. Obviously, residents are interested in transportation on Long Island and want to learn about its transportation system and possible solutions to manage congestion into the next millennium.
She was also the Principal-in Charge for JAC Planning effort’s of two planning studies for the Long Island Rail Road; the Merrick Revitalization Study and the East End Transportation Study. The East End Transportation Study’s overall goal was to develop short- and long-term recommendations and strategies to provide more effective rail service to the East End of Long Island, and to develop a plan that will increase train utilization. The challenge was to find solutions that both address the needs of the East End community, and are economically feasible, given the complexities that a single-track territory represents. For this project, a Stakeholders Participation Program was developed by JAC Planning Corp. to identify the public and private Stakeholders on the East End and identify methods to solicit their input. A meeting was held to solicit input and to work toward a consensus opinion regarding planning, resources, and linkages between the study and local municipal transportation objectives. Included at the meeting was a study overview, a discussion of data collection and findings, an open discussion of short- and long-term opportunities, and the next steps in the overall planning process.
Ms. Celender also served as Trustee (1984-2000), and since March, 2000 is currently the Mayor of the Village of Great Neck Plaza, the first woman mayor in its over more than 70 year history. Prior to her election to office, she headed the Planning Council where she directed consultants' efforts and advised the Board on a major rezoning of the Village. In her capacity as Trustee and given her environmental background, Ms. Celender advises the Board on implementing State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) and in streamlining site plan and conditional use/special use permit processing. This includes developing local SEQR procedures, processing applications before the Board and preparing resolutions for the Board's consideration.
Her other public service activities include being a member of the Board of Directors of the Great Neck Plaza Management Council (the Village's Business Improvement District), the CLASP Children's Center in Great Neck, the Great Neck Arts Center, the Great Neck Opera Company, a Commission Member on the Nassau County Legislature's Commission on Child Care (1997-Present) and a public member of the Nassau County Rent Guidelines Board (1994-1997).
The Village of Great Neck Plaza has undertaken many downtown initiatives and was recognized in 1994 with a Main Street Revitalization Award for its many efforts to encourage business development and maintain the vitality of this charming Nassau County Village. The Village administration under former mayor, Allan Gussack, which Ms. Celender served as Trustee, was instrumental in getting the legislation changed regarding Business Improvement Districts (BID) by the New York State Legislature to enable villages and towns to create a BID. Prior to the change in the law, only cities were permitted to establish a BID. Great Neck Plaza was the first such village BID in New York State having been created in September of 1989. Ms. Celender currently serves as a Director of the Great Neck Plaza Management Council (the Village’s BID Board). Recognizing that a BID is one mechanism to assist in economic revitalization of a commercial downtown area, there are now over a half dozen BIDs on Long Island and Great Neck Plaza serves as a model for these downtowns.
Thus, Ms. Celender is involved with identifying and implementing strategies for increasing traffic flow, improving parking and revitalizing the CBD of Great Neck Plaza, a Nassau County village. She is also the Co-Chair liaison to its Resident Parking and Pedestrian Safety Committee. She has been involved in many parking and pedestrian studies to improve traffic flow, ease parking capacity problems and to increase pedestrian safety. Various elements reviewed included:
She has previously served as Section Head and Senior Planner in the Environmental Science and Planning Section of H2M Group in Melville, NY. She was responsible for managing a land use planning term contract with the U.S. Postal Service for siting studies, preferred area analyses, site utilization and feasibility studies and site design for over eight postal facilities in the Metropolitan NY area. This major contract involved coordination of planning, architectural, civil engineering, traffic and surveying consultants from initial site identification through acquisition to site adaptation for postal functions. She was previously principal investigator for selection and environmental assessment of candidate sites for a General Mail Processing Facility which is on Route 110 and serves the Mid-Island region of Long Island.
While at H2M, Ms. Celender also managed EIS projects for residential and commercial/industrial projects including Red Creek Ridge Condominiums in Southampton, Sunbeach Hills at Montauk, Harbor View of Kings Point, Aluetta Enterprises in Village of Lake Grove, and the Smith Haven Mall expansion and the Jonas/Price shopping center projects in Smithtown. She also served as Project Manager for environmental compliance contracts with the NYC Dept. of Sanitation for the Fresh Kills and Brookfield Avenue Landfills on Staten Island, involving coordination of a complex schedule of review and permit applications with numerous federal, state and local agencies.
Prior to H2M Group, Ms. Celender was a Land Use Planner with Vollmer Associates. She was involved in the final phases of the environmental review process and public participation program for the Nassau Expressway project in Nassau and Queens Counties near JFK International Airport. Her efforts included development of presentation material for the design public hearing and preparation of the Final 4(f) EIS.
For Willdan Associates of Phoenix, Arizona, she served as Manager of the Cartographic Department and Land Use Planner for a wide range of planning studies including; a Socioeconomic Characterization Study of the Mississippi Deltaic Plain Region, transmission line sitings, Low-Head Hydroelectric units, airport master plans and Master Plans for Gilbert and Avondale, Arizona.
SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS:
American Planning Association
CERTIFICATIONS:
CEI - Certified Environmental Inspector |
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Copyright © 2004, 2007 JAC Planning Corp. |
