Senior Long Range Planner

PLEASE APPLY ON THE NHC CAREERS WEBSITE

Essential Duties: New Hanover County is seeking a motivated professional to lead the long range planning team in the Planning and Land Use Department. This position works in coordination with current planning, zoning, and administration to implement New Hanover County’s Comprehensive Plan and other projects and initiatives that promote more efficient development patterns within unincorporated New Hanover County. It requires strong analytical skills and the ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities, develop partnerships with stakeholders, supervise other planners and their work, and to clearly communicate technical information in writing and verbally. Typical work activities include policy and data research and analysis; public outreach; developing and analyzing amendments to long range plans, development codes, the Official Zoning Map, and other related proposals; serving as a staff liaison in a variety of long range planning focus areas, including transportation; preparing technical studies and reports; managing implementation projects and programs; and communicating plans, policies, data measures, and growth-related documents to county officials and the public.

New Hanover County’s Planning and Land Use department is comprised of a team of dedicated professionals and oversees research, planning, and zoning activities to ensure orderly growth and development for New Hanover County, using the comprehensive plan as a guide. Our long range planning team is committed to a pragmatic, solution-oriented approach to addressing the ongoing challenges of laying a framework for the next twenty to thirty years of growth and development in the unincorporated areas of the county. We work in a variety of areas, including comprehensive planning, transportation, zoning, and development regulation. As the leader of the long range team, you will have the opportunity to work closely with current planning, zoning, and engineering staff, as well as organizational and community partners who focus on public health, transportation, and parks planning.

New Hanover County strives to hire the best and the brightest employees who are committed to public service. Our employees enjoy an innovative, energetic and employee-focused work environment with top down support that embraces bottom up ideas and engagement. Our talented team of professionals have a passion for providing care and services that effect change on the everyday lives of the citizens they encounter. Our shared values of professionalism, innovation, integrity, stewardship and accountability guide the way we conduct ourselves and deliver services to our customers. If this sounds like an organization that models the values you uphold, we invite you to come and be a part of the exciting, healthy and progressive team at New Hanover County.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree or a Bachelor’s Degree in Planning or related field and five (5) years of progressively professional level planning experience.
• Candidates should have a knowledge of civil engineering principles, planning principles, coastal planning issues, applicable laws and regulations, growth management principles, finance principles, statistics principles, grant requirements, property zoning and registration requirements, GIS applications, and public relations principles.
• Candidates should be skilled in using computers and applicable software; organizing work; preparing and giving presentations; facilitating meetings; analyzing information; writing technical documents and reports; collective, evaluating, and compiling data; reading and interpreting maps; administering grants; maintaining effective work relationships; monitoring and directing staff; and communicating across a variety of work related settings with a variety of internal and external stakeholders.
• Direct experience in zoning administration, development review, transportation planning, GIS, graphic design, or implementation of a comprehensive plan is preferred. Strong experience in Word and PowerPoint are highly desired; experience in Adobe is preferred. Must have good driving record.

Licenses/Certifications:

• NC Driver License
• AICP preferred – must be obtained within 5 years of employment
• Member of APA
• Map Review Officer (preferred)

Other Information: Hours are 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Monday through Friday, with some night and weekend work possible for meetings or public outreach events. Must be available to work during emergency situations.

Salary Information: New Hanover County offers competitive salary + a competitive benefits package. Please visit our career site at www.nhcgov.com/careers for more information about our benefits. The hiring range for this position begins at $56,996. Salary will be determined based on qualifications, internal equity, budget, and market considerations.