APA MD Announces 2020-2022 Elected Officers

Congratulations to the election winners for the 2020-2022 term!

They are:

President-Elect: Helen Spinelli, AICP
Adjunct Professor
Morgan State University Graduate School of Architecture and Planning

Helen M. Spinelli, AICP, is Adjunct Professor at Morgan State University Graduate School of Architecture and Planning teaching Land Use Law. She is recently retired as Principal Planner at Queen Anne’s County Planning and Zoning Department as of July 1st, 2019. As Principal Planner she lead all long range planning and comprehensive plan implementation efforts for the Department. This included the development of comprehensive plans and community plans for the designated growth areas in the county along with assisting the county’s eight municipalities with their long range planning needs, which is part of the Department’s mission. Creating the implementation tools to realize the plans is germane to long range planning as well.

Helen was Economic Development and Tourism Director for Caroline County and prior to that a Comprehensive Planner II, Water & Sewer for Carroll County responsible for infrastructure planning for the county. She has a BA and MA in Economics from Fordham University, New York, NY, completed an Honours Economics graduate program at Delhousie University in Halifax Nova Scotia Canada and is a trained Community Mediator and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). Helen was previously the Eastern Shore Representative for APA Maryland.

Statewide Representative: Angie Hernandez, AICP
Associate
Planning Department
JMT

Angie is currently employed by JMT where she works as a planner focused on multi-modal transportation planning projects and master planning efforts across the Mid-Atlantic Region. She currently volunteers on both the Activities Committee and 2019 Conference Committee for the Maryland Chapter of the American Planning Association. Angie serves on multiple committees at JMT including: The Annual Charitable Campaign Sub-Committee and an ESOP Ambassador. Angie is experienced in master planning, technical writing, grant writing, roadway design, GIS analytics and mapping, research techniques, facilitating public workshops, and consensus building efforts. Outside of work Angie enjoys spending time with family, traveling, hiking, cooking, and sewing. She has two sons, Cayden, her oldest is 6 years old and Niko, her youngest is 9 months old.

Southern MD Representative: Olivia Vidotto
Planner III
Planning & Zoning
Prince Frederick, MD

Olivia Vidotto has worked as a development planner with Calvert County Planning and Zoning since 1993 doing plan review for residential subdivisions and commercial site plans. She is the 4th generation in her family living and working in Calvert County. Being the APA Maryland Southern Regional Representative for the past two years, she is the creator behind The Agriculture and Planning Conference and hosts it each year at Serenity Farms, in Southern Maryland. In her spare time she concentrates on art and enjoys doing contemporary paintings and participating in art shows in the metropolitan area.

Metro Representative: Lynda Eisenberg
Director
Carroll County Department of Planning

Lynda Eisenberg was appointed Director of the Carroll County Department of Comprehensive Planning in January 2019, after being acting director of the department since 2017. Ms. Eisenberg began employment in Carroll County as Bureau Chief of Comprehensive Planning in 2013. Her responsibilities included overseeing and managing activities of employees engaged in comprehensive land use planning, transportation planning, historic planning, facility planning, and water resource planning in accordance with federal, state and local laws. In addition to those duties, Director Eisenberg will now direct overall Comprehensive Planning programs/processes and the Carroll County Comprehensive Plan, monitor compliance with appropriate governmental and other regulatory and reporting requirements and represent Carroll County on legislative and regulatory issues at the local, regional, state, and federal levels.

Ms. Eisenberg earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies from University of Maryland, Baltimore County and holds a Master’s Degree in Geography and Environmental Planning from Towson University. She has over 20 years of experience as a planning professional and an extensive background in Maryland planning and land use programs as well as federal and intergovernmental planning issues. She is a published contributor to several planning-related publications and is active on several boards and committees.

Ms. Eisenberg is originally from Calvert County, Maryland and has lived in this region for more than 25 years. She is married with two children and enjoys skiing, hiking, biking, volunteering at her children’s school and coaching field hockey.

Western MD Representative: Alan Feinberg, AICP, RA

Mr. Feinberg is a Charter Member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and is a registered architect (RA). He has had many years of varied professional planning, design, and project management experience in the public, private and quasi-public sectors. During those years Mr. Feinberg has been an active participant in his community’s activities. In the last dozen years he founded and promoted and helped sustain East Frederick Rising -- downtown's urban extension. In the last four years he created a community Meetup focused on a diversity of urban issues affecting everyone. Alan previously had served the Maryland APA Chapter as its Vice President, and currently serves as the Western Maryland Representative.

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Helen Spinelli was elected to fill the remaining term of the current President-Elect, and will be elevated to President in January 2020 to serve a 2-year term.

Of the members-at-large, all are returning elected officers except Lynda Eisenberg.

The Eastern Shore Representative position is currently vacant.

To better serve members, APA Maryland divides the State into four regions: the Eastern Shore, Southern Maryland, Baltimore Metro, and Western Maryland. Each of these regions has an elected representative on the Executive Committee who represents the interests of each region’s members. Elected officers, including President and President-Elect, serve two-year terms.