Martin A. Schneider, AICP

Contact:

(561) 626-7067 x 103

marty@ipgplan.com
Import To Outlook

Mr. Schneider has twenty (20) years of experience in Florida working with local governments, state agencies, and neighborhoods on short- and long-range planning and redevelopment issues with a strong emphasis on improving community participation. All of his projects with IPG have involved a concerted community participation component. In the City of Titusville, a two-day community visioning workshop with a unique project branding element and public outreach effort resulted in development of the “United Vision Titusville” document, which laid out guiding principles for future City growth. These community vision principles laid the foundation for the City’s Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR), which IPG also developed. In the City of Cape Coral, a series of community workshops, including a visual preference survey, were used to develop the Envisioning Cape Coral’s Future document to outline future policy guidelines.

As a Principal Planner for IPG, Mr. Schneider conducts and supervises all development review and all other planning services (code amendments, comprehensive plan amendments, EARs, EAR-based amendments, and annexation studies) for the City of Homestead. Over the last 3 years, Mr. Schneider has directed the review of over 300 development applications for the City. He applies a practical approach, including meaningful coordination with City staff, development applicants and the community to provide realistic solutions to complex planning and development issues.

Under Mr. Schneider’s direction, IPG has completed the following projects:
• City of Homestead: EAR, EAR-based Amendments, comprehensive plan amendments, land development code revisions, annexation studies, Northwest Neighborhood Plan, and ongoing development review
• Doral Comprehensive Plan, including community visioning workshops;
• Titusville “United Vision” document and EAR
• “Envisioning Cape Coral’s Future” and Urban Service Areas Report

Previously, Mr. Schneider was a neighborhood planning analyst with the City of Coral Springs. His primary duties included managing traffic calming programs, developing the Neighborhood Vitality Index, administering neighborhood partnership programs and coordinating community meetings. As a planner for the City of Hollywood, he coordinated community master planning, produced text amendments for the comprehensive plan and land development regulations, and reviewed site plans for consistency with zoning and land development regulations, along with front-line “planner of the day” duties serving walk-in applicants and residents.

Mr. Schneider’s emphasis on neighborhood planning is illustrated by his work on the Neighborhood Vitality Index. The index utilized GIS, demographics, and statistical analysis to gauge the relative health of individual neighborhoods. Crime statistics, code enforcement violations, property value trends, and other data were gathered and plotted geographically. Analysis of spatial relationships among these factors allowed the City to focus resources and prioritize projects where they would result in positive changes in the neighborhoods. The Index was updated annually, allowing the City to track the results of successful investments and identify any continuing problem areas. Mr. Schneider presented the Neighborhood Vitality Index project at the 2002 Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association (FAPA) Conference.

Prior to his municipal experience, Mr. Schneider was a researcher for the FAU/FIU Joint Center for Environmental and Urban Problems (now the Center for Urban and Environmental Solutions at Florida Atlantic University). There, he investigated obstacles to infill development and redevelopment, streamlined the development approval process, developed criteria for modifying the Urban Development Boundary and conducted charrettes for Miami-Dade County. Mr. Schneider also collected data on state and federal trail and corridor programs, prepared economic impact statements, reports on impact fees and assisted the City of Jacksonville with comprehensive planning.

Mr. Schneider has made several presentations before professional organizations, including the Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association (FAPA). He presented a workshop on “Creating Community Indicators to Help Meet Community Goals” at the 2002 FAPA conference. He has published articles on growth management, environmental issues, development regulations and community design in the Environmental and Urban Problems quarterly publication, and was Section Affairs coordinator for the American Planning Association of Broward County prior to moving to Palm Beach County. He was also heavily involved with the Downtown Fort Lauderdale Transportation Management Association (TMA), which initiated and managed alternative modes of transportation within the city’s business district.

Mr. Schneider is currently working closely with the City of Miami Gardens to develop their first land development regulations. This process has involved a number of community workshops and intensive coordination with City staff to create new mixed use “Planned Corridor Development” zoning districts and replace the cumbersome regulations of Miami-Dade County with a more user-friendly and graphically oriented code. He is also overseeing the completion of Davie EAR-based Comprehensive Plan amendments, which included several community visioning workshops and incorporated new goals, objectives and policies to encourage redevelopment opportunities within the Town’s Regional Activity Center.