Regional Plan Association - Connecticut Office

RPA's Connecticut Office undertakes projects and advocates for
strategies that promote "smart" and efficient land use practices, sound
environmental policies, sustainable economic development, and integrated
transportation choices. RPA/CT comprises Fairfield, Litchfield, and New
Haven counties but many projects and recommendations have statewide
significance.

RPA/CT's mission is to encourage long-range, inter-municipal planning
that embodies strategies which allow communities across the state to
continue to grow and prosper while maintaining their quality of life.
From its independent regional perspective, RPA/CT works to make
Connecticut more competitive, fair and sustainable through developing
new initiatives and demonstrating their feasibility in communities
across the state and by stimulating informed public debate and building
coalitions around practical solutions.

RPA/CT recent initiatives include the Stamford Master Plan, the
Bridgeport Downtown Master Plan, the inaugural Connecticut Mayors'
Institute on Community Design, and a regional roundtable to advance
Transit-Oriented Development across the state.

More information on RPA/CT's activities will be posted in the coming
months.


			David Kooris

			David Kooris is the Director of RPA's Connecticut Office. As a Senior Planner at RPA, he has managed a variety of community design and growth management projects in Connecticut, the Hudson Valley, and Long Island. An emphasis in all of his work is community participation and the involvement of as wide a spectrum of stakeholders as possible. Mr. Kooris currently manages two growth management projects in Orange County, NY. A total of fourteen towns and villages are engaged in a coordinated inter-municipal land use plan to mitigate the effects of future growth. By working together in a collaborative and iterative planning process, these fourteen municipalities aim to limit traffic congestion, loss of open space, and declining quality of life while continuing to grow. Mr. Kooris also presently manages the urban design component of the Downtown Bridgeport Master Plan, the largest city in the state of Connecticut. After several decades of decline, cities across the region are showing signs of life aided by changing demographics and a renewed demand for urban living. Bridgeport is in a unique position to get out in front of this pending development and ensure that future growth is oriented towards the city's phenomenal transit access and contributes to the city and the region's quality of life. Mr. Kooris' work in the city of his birth will ensure that development in the coming years ensures Bridgeport's long term success. In his three years at RPA, Mr. Kooris has worked on several neighborhood scale planning initiatives throughout the tri-state region. He has played an active role in the urban design, planning, and communicative aspects of station area plans for Netcong, Somerville, and Galloway, in New Jersey as well as the neighborhood center plans for the communities of Glenbrook and Springdale in Stamford, CT. He has also led the Long Island Mayors' and Supervisors' Institute on Community Design, a workshop that pairs elected municipal officials with planning and design professionals to formulate cutting edge solutions to the challenges that face the region's neighborhoods. He received an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Geography from McGill University and a Master in City and Regional Planning and a Master Certificate in Urban Design from PennDesign at the University of Pennsylvania.