LDDI Industry and Networking Events

LDDI INDUSTRY AND NETWORKING EVENTS

General Meetings

Over the past year, LDDI hosted General Meetings in June, January, and April. In addition to the thematic content of the meeting, LDDI General Meetings serve an important outreach function, keeping sponsors and other professionals in the land development industry informed of program activities both inside and outside of the classroom through the overview presentation delivered by LDDI Coordinator Kevin Young. The meetings also provide a great opportunity to showcase students, with this year’s meetings featuring presentations from the senior design and sustainable land development courses. Another important outreach component of the meetings is the networking opportunity among a diverse mix of attendees that includes consulting engineers, developers and homebuilders, product and service providers, municipal engineers, and others from the land development industry. Even through a virtual format for the January and April meetings, we were able to capitalize on Zoom breakout rooms to facilitate a networking session among attendees.

LDDI’s 2021 summer meeting was held in person on Friday, July 23rd at the Hof Garden in Scott’s Addition in Richmond, VA with a virtual partipicpant option. The meeting featured a discussion on the recent growth and development of the Scott’s Addition Historic District from an impressive panel of speakers representing multiple stakeholders – municipality, developer, and designer. The panelists highlighted community input, infrastructure improvements, and adaptive reuse opportunities. It was a great opportunity for the LDDI network to gather again in person for the first time since January 2020!

LDDI’s annual winter meeting was held as a virtual meeting on Friday, January 14th , 2022. The winter meeting featured a diverse mix of topics including:

 Stream Restoration Efforts in Fairfax and Arlington Counties  Update from the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure  2021 Infrastructure Investment and Job Act

The winter meeting also featured student presentations including a senior design team and a partnership from the Sustainable Land Development course.

Summer 2021 General Meeting in Richmond, VA

Turkey Run Stream Restoration (photo provided by Fairfax County)

LDDI’s third General Meeting was held as a virtual meeting on Friday, April 1st, 2022 with a featured topic of“The Impact of Light Rail on the Charlotte Metropolitan Area.” The guest speakers included Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO), Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS), and Timmons Group. LDDI was also proud to announce the John and Connie DeBell endowments, and to hear comments directly from John who was in attendance. LDDI’s Committee Chairs also provided an update on what the committees have accomplished in the past year and their upcoming goals. Lastly, the first cohort of Sustainable Land Development master’s students who are graduating in 2022 each presented, sharing both the technical and professional skills they developed as part of their graduate studies. Blue Line Light Rail Extension (photo provided by Timmons Group)

We would like to recognize the following guest speakers for their contributions to LDDI General Meetings in the past year. Thank you for your role in maintaining outreach with our general membership!

 Andrew Basham, Spy Rock Real Estate Group  John Bennett, AES Consulting Engineers  Brett Buckland, Bohler  Brian Crutchfield, Timmons Group  Chris Daily, VHB  Lindsey Geiger, Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure  Mary Wolter Glass, Arlington County Citizen  Emma B. L. Gutzler, Fairfax County  John Howard, Charlotte Area Transit System  Caleb Hurst, Draper Aden Associates / TRC  Josh MacDonald, Timmons Group  Akul Mehra, VT CEE  Cody Mudd, Bohler  Morgan Newcomb, VT CEE  Maritza Pechin, City of Richmond  Matt Reiffer, ACEC  George Rhodes, Stantec  Agustin Rodriguez, Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization  Brian Utterback, Cowen Design Group  Miranda Tison, VT CEE  Amelia Wehunt, Timmons Group  Dr. Mark Widdowson, VT CEE

“The LDDI program has allowed me to secure a great land development job that I feel confident going into. Through the course work and senior design project, I felt my knowledge and comfortability within land development skyrocket. Having consistent meetings with mentors in the field gave me room to grow, ask questions, and improve the skills that I will use in my career. In addition, the mentors helped me gain a greater understanding of what the career itself looks like. LDDI has given me many great tools to go into my first fulltime job feeling ready and prepared to succeed.”

–Jack Vance, VT CEE Class of 2022, Incoming Analyst at Kimley-Horn

Golf Tournament

On Wednesday, September 15th, LDDI, Inc. hosted the seventh annual Land Development Professionals Golf Tournament at the Potomac Shores Golf Club in Dumfries, VA. LDDI, Inc. is an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose purpose is to help financially support the goals and mission of the broader LDDI program. Last year’s tournament featured 25 corporate sponsors and 100 golfers, breaking the previous fundraising record and solidifying the event as LDDI’s single biggest annual fundraiser. Jim Bishoff (J2 Engineers) and Sue Wolford (Pennoni) served as the primary event organizers, and LDDI sincerely thanks them, as well as everyone who contributed to making the event a success. Of the tournament, Sue comments,“The 2021 LDDI Golf Tournament was another greatsuccess due toour generous sponsors, wonderful volunteers, and a great group of golfers who got toenjoy a beautifulday out on the links of Potomac Shores Golf Club.”

The 2022 Land Development Professionals Golf Tournament will be held on Wednesday, September 21st, again at the Potomac Shores Golf Club. Various sponsorship opportunities are currently available, and we invite you to email golf.lddi@gmail.com for information about sponsoring and/or participating in this event. Golfers from J2 Engineers pause for a photo during the 2021 Land Development Professionals Golf Tournament

Sustainable Land Development graduate students

Sustainable Land Development Seminar Series

The Sustainable Land Development M.S. program debuted its fall seminar series in 2021. Within the CEE department, each graduate program area has its own seminar series in which graduate students are typically required to enroll. Taking a slightly different approach, in addition to inviting current and prospective graduate students, the LDDI professional network was also extended an invitation to attend any of these Friday afternoon presentations via Zoom. Forty professionals attended at least one seminar, including Alex Sarant with Gordon who attended almost all of the offered sessions. Of the experience, Alex shared, “the Fall Sustainable Land Development Seminar Series was a great addition to industry and students alike this past year. Personally, I attended 10 of the seminars and while my initial goal was to gain some PDH credits for upkeep of professional licensure, I got so much more than expected. Topics ranged anywhere from displays of complex design solutions at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, to utilizing GIS for tree canopy assessments. Dr. Shealy was able to procure a wide variety of speakers which really helped to show how wide of a net can be cast surrounding the land development industry.”

While the students were earning course credit and satisfying a graduation requirement rather than earning PDHs, the current topics and case studies presented at the seminar expanded upon the discussion in their other master’s courses. Miranda Tison, VT CEE Class of 2021 & 2022 and incoming engineer for christopher consultants, shared, “the SLD seminar is a unique opportunity to hear industry professionals discuss their current projects. I found it particularly interesting to learn about the sustainable design elements incorporated into Virginia Beach schools as well as the design challenges and solutions of solar farm development.”

We would like to thank the following individuals for presenting at the inaugural Sustainable Land Development seminar series:

 Danielle Brock, RK&K  Jordan Brooks, Kimley-Horn  Kelly Drewry Eager, Delos  John Eustis, New River Land Trust  Karen Firehock, GIC  Meghan Hekl, Kimley-Horn  Matthew Jones, Hazen Sawyer  Margaret McMenamin, Wetland Studies & Solutions  Robyn Niss, Kimley-Horn  Ryan Seavy, R+  Justin Stenkamp, PAE  Cutter Sydnor, Kimley-Horn  Eric Wiseman, VT College of Natural Resources  Katie Zabrocki, PAE

Career Nights

Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 marked the 23rd and 24th consecutive semesters that LDDI has hosted “Land Development Career Night” – a professional networking event typically held on the eve of the Civil & Environmental Engineering Career Fair. Like many other events, the past academic year marked the return to an in-person modality after the previous year’s mixers were held virtually using the online Remo platform. The fall semester event was held outdoors on a delightful October evening at Blacksburg’s Nelly’s Cave Park while the spring mixer was held in February, on campus at the Virginia Tech Graduate Life Center. These mixers have long provided an opportunity for students to meet and mingle with prospective employers in a relaxed environment prior to the stressful and sometimes even chaotic atmosphere of the career fair, and employers often cite the event’s value in helping them to identify and distinguish students interested in land development design from the larger pool of CEE candidates. Cameron Palmore, Director of Housing and Education for LDDI Platinum sponsor Koontz Bryant Johnson Williams (KBJW) attended both the fall and spring mixers and offered, “I’ve been involved with LDDI for nearly 15 years and appreciate all of the different ways that the program seeks to connect students with employers. The Career Night Mixer is certainly one of, if not the, the most valuable of all these recruitment opportunities. It is a great way to meet students in a more relaxed atmosphere prior to the career fair. While KBJW recognizes that Virginia Tech CEE produces exceptional structural, geotechnical, and transportation engineers, our firm is primarily interested in students who have focused their coursework on land development and related topics. The LDDI resume bank and Career Night Mixer allow us to hone in on those students ahead of the Career Fair, making our recruitment efforts more efficient and productive.”

Students and practitioners mingle at Nellie’s Cave Park during the Fall 2021 Career Night Mixer