Rincon Hires New Marketing Manager & Senior Planner

Rincon is pleased to announce that Patricia Post has been hired as the Marketing Manager and Bryce Ternet has been hired as a Senior Planner. 

With over 15 years’ experience providing marketing support for engineering and environmental consulting firms, Ms. Post will lead all marketing activities for the firm and will be based out of the Ventura headquarters. Her experience includes participating in national, regional and local strategic planning, preparing and implementing annual marketing plans, using client relationship management applications, coordinating participation at conferences, public relations, managing and preparing proposals, statements of qualifications and interviews, and supervising marketing staff responsible for supporting regional offices. 

Stephen Svete, Vice-President of the firm, echoed Rincon’s excitement on working with Ms. Post: “We are delighted to have recruited Ms. Post to manage our numerous business development initiatives in our growing practice.  She brings a wealth of skill and experience gained in over 15 years in the environmental consulting industry, and she is already helping us achieve our ambitious goals going forward.” 

Mr. Ternet brings over 11 years’ experience in multiple phases of project development and program management to Rincon as a Senior Planner in the growing Monterey office.  His background in infrastructure and industrial project development began in a challenging position within the federal government at the U.S. Trade & Development Agency, where he managed a multi-million dollar foreign assistance program for West Africa. Since switching gears from the feasibility to environmental impacts of project development, Mr. Ternet’s focus has been in environmental assessment, environmental document preparation, permitting, and mitigation implementation for water and wastewater projects. Although focused on infrastructure and utility-related projects, he offers experience in residential development, transportation, mining, and renewable energy projects.

 

                                                                   

                                                                   Patricia Post                        Bryce Ternet

Rincon Contracted to Prepare EIRs for AMBAG & Shasta County Transportation Plans

Rincon Consultants is excited to announce that it has been contracted to prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for both the Association of Monterey Bay Area Government’s (AMBAG) 2014 Metropolitan Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (MTP/SCS) and the Shasta Regional Transportation Agency’s 2015 Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP/SCS). 

The AMBAG MTP is the metropolitan long‐range transportation plan for the Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz counties and will incorporate the Regional Transportation Plans (RTPs) for those counties. The Shasta Regional Transportation Agency’s RTP outlines the region’s goals and policies for meeting current and future mobility needs, providing a foundation for transportation decisions by local, regional, and State officials that are ultimately aimed at achieving a coordinated and balanced transportation network. Both EIRs will analyze project impacts on the physical environment and identify strategies to avoid or mitigate significant environmental effects. They also will be informational documents intended to inform public decision‐makers, responsible or interested agencies, and the general public of the potential environmental effects of a project.

Until recently, RTPs focused primarily on regional transportation needs. However, Senate Bill 375 (SB 375) now requires a Sustainable Communities Strategy in its RTP to help each region achieve its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target by integrating land use planning into the RTP. Evaluating an SCS in an EIR is particularly challenging because it requires examining the environmental impacts of land use patterns at a regional level. This regional analysis entails unique approaches to evaluating air quality impacts, health risk impacts, environmental justice impacts, greenhouse gas impacts, and land use impacts, to name a few. Rincon’s approach to evaluating the SCS component of an RTP will set the stage for future EIRs that must conform to SB 375. 

AMBAG Metroplitan Transportation Plan Work Area

Shasta County Highway

Planner Attends California Trails & Greenway Conference

Rincon will be participating in the 28th California Trails & Greenway Conference May 8-10 in Lake Tahoe. This year's theme is "Trails with Grace: A Path to Preservation & Sustainability." Click here to visit the conference registration site. Rincon recently completed the Open Space, Trails and Greenways Study for the Pleasant Valley Recreation & Park District (Ventura County), and is currently at work on the EIR for the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network Master Plan for the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission. Illustrated below is a segment of the trail, which will follow the Santa Cruz County coastline along the Monterey Bay.

Rincon Presents at SERCAL 2013 Conference

At the 20th Annual Conference of the California Society for Ecological Restoration (SERCAL), running May 14-16 at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Rincon biologists John Dreher, Jr., Steven J. Hongola and Dr. Duane Vander Pluym are presenting a poster titled

"Balancing Compensatory Mitigation Requirements with Ecological Restoration Objectives".

Rincon staff guided California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) campus planners in the development of a proactive and flexible mitigation strategy to address impacts to multiple disturbed jurisdictional water features within the 1,193-acre campus as part of long-term development campus plan. (This is the same CSUCI that is in the news this week for being evacuated due to the nearby Springs Fire.) The plan prescribed the creation, restoration, enhancement, and preservation of wetland and riparian habitat within the campus to pre-mitigate for future impacts anticipated in conjunction with the planned growth and expansion of the university.

As a result, a total of 10.33 acres of jurisdictional waters, riparian and wetland habitat were created, of which an excess of 6.04 acres remain for future development mitigation. Restoration included creation of a riparian cooridor, a swale, and a vernal pool/seasonal pond to capture runoff from an upstream watershed. A creek segment was successfully restored to a quasi-natural state, which has been documented to support federal and state endangered least Bells’ vireo, as well as white-tailed kite, a state fully protected species. Future efforts include additional enhancements of the riparian corridor, including a 10-acre flood management basin, and restoration of another creek within the recently acquired 367-acre CSUCI Park.

Download the poster here:

New Rincon Principals and Program Managers

Rincon Consultants is pleased to announce that Colby Boggs and Lacrissa Cook Davis have been promoted to Principal.  The two have made significant contributions to the firm in many ways.  Going forward, we welcome them to the top leadership level in the firm to continue to guide and grow our Biological Resources practice. 

Lacrissa Cook Davis, MESM - Principal – Senior Biologist
Ventura Office
Lacrissa’s career at Rincon Consultants began in 2004 and after completing a Masters in Environmental Sciences and Management at the prestigious Bren School at UCSB.  She emerged as a leading multi-disciplinary manager in the biological resources group.  Lacrissa has been integrally involved with Rincon’s many large utilities projects, overseeing teams of resource professionals in field environments as well as providing critical overall program management. 
Click here for additional Info about Lacrissa

 

Colby J. Boggs, MS - Principal – Senior Ecologist
San Luis Obispo Office
Colby joined Rincon Consultants in 2008 and has since expanded the breadth and geographic reach of the firm’s biological resources group.  He is deeply involved in Rincon’s renewable energy, transportation, and public works markets and has developed strong working relationships in these industries.  Colby’s professional experience includes preparing a broad range of biological resources assessments, mitigation programs, permits, and resource management plans throughout California. 
Click here for additional Info about Colby

 

STAFFING NEWS 

Two talented planners have joined the Rincon Consultants team. Ryan Birdseye and Jasch Janowicz have been named as Senior Program Managers in our Environmental Sciences and Planning group.  

Ryan Birdseye - Senior Program Manager
Carlsbad Office
Ryan brings over 21 years of environmental consulting experience to our statewide planning practice.  Based in the Rincon Consultants Carlsbad office, he will oversee land and community development projects for a multi-county territory, including San Diego, Imperial, Riverside, and Orange counties. He will also lead the preparation of environmental documents and technical reports for a diverse range of energy, water infrastructure and transportation projects throughout California.

 

Jasch Janowicz - Senior Program Manager
Ventura Office
Jasch joined the Rincon Consultants team in 2010 and was recently promoted to a management position in the Ventura office.  He will manage the firm contract planning and agency-staffing efforts for government agencies throughout California.  Jasch’s areas of technical expertise include plan development, permitting and zoning administration, CEQA/NEPA analysis and compliance, physical planning, climate action planning, intergovernmental/community relations, and inter-agency regulatory work. 

Recreation & Park District's Open Space & Trails Study is Approved

The Pleasant Valley Recreation & Park District's Board of Directors recently and unanimously approved the Open Space, Trail, and Greenway Planning Study developed by Rincon. A new system of bike paths, hiking trails and open space that extends from Camarillo to the Santa Monica Mountains is on the horizon.

Read the recent article in the Ventura County Star at Camarillo parks district approves study to expand trails and open space in Camarillo; click on the buttons below to download the Recommendations section and/or the Hiking and Biking Trails and Trailheads map from the Planning Study and for more about Rincon's work on this and other Alternative Transportation, Trails, and Open Space projects, click here.

                  

Rincon's Work on Plastic Bag Ban Ordinances Highlighted

Matt Maddox, MESM, a Senior Environmental Planner with Rincon, was recently interviewed for an article on the movement to ban plastic bags.  Matt has spearheaded Rincon’s efforts preparing environmental documentation for plastic bag ban ordinances across California and has spoken at a number of conferences about his work.

Click the link below to read more on this trending movement.

Sustainable City Network - Banning Plastic Bags: Does It Really Work?

Rincon Staff Involved in CEQA and Affordable Housing Events

Rincon Consultants, Inc. staff were excited to be involved in two separate events in December.

The first, at a California State University CEQA Workshop, was a presentation by Stephen Svete, AICP, LEED ND, Vice President of Rincon, and Richard Daulton, MURP, Principal at Rincon, who were invited to discuss Sustainable Communities from 1:45-2:15 PM on Wednesday, December 6, 2012. The event ran from 8 AM - 4 PM in the Wallace Conference Room, CSU Office of the Chancellor, Long Beach, CA.

The second event, the San Diego Housing Federation's monthly Affordable Housing Roundtable Series: Post AB 26 - Affordable Housing Brownfield Projects, was sponsored by Rincon. Scheduled for Thursday, December 13, 2012 from 8-10 AM at the NTC Command Center, Meeting Room 1, 2640 Historic Decatur Rd. in San Diego, CA, this roundtable explored efforts to finance affordable housing projects in a post-redevelopment agency world. You can read the details here.

Rincon Opens Oakland Office

Rincon is excited to announce the opening of an office in Oakland; the company’s 6^th location in California.  Headquartered in Ventura, Rincon operates from locations in Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Riverside, and Carlsbad.  The Oakland office will be managed by Abe Leider, AICP CEP, Planning Manager with over 14 years of professional experience in urban planning, overseeing agency staffing, environmental review, and policy development projects.

We have long provided services to Northern California clients, and the Oakland office will enable us to improve service delivery in the region.  Current clients include the San Mateo County Health System, San Jose State University, City of Palo Alto, Tuolumne County, City of Sunnyvale, and the City of San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing.

Mr. Leider is an East Bay native and is pleased to be returning home, “I very much look forward to being back in my home town and absorbing all of the changes that have occurred while I’ve been away, and to offering our Northern California clients and partners an active local presence.”  Mr. Leider has a strong background working with large municipalities; he served as the Project Manager for Rincon’s contract planning efforts with the City of Los Angeles, and oversaw preparation of multiple Environmental Impact Reports for the City of Long Beach, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Claremont.  Prior to Rincon, he spent eight years with the County of Santa Barbara’s Planning and Development Department.

180 Grand Avenue, Suite 400
Oakland, California 94612
510-834-4455
Fax-834-4433

Rincon Co-Hosts a Short Hike and Restoration Event

Rincon Consultants and the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy co-hosted a short hike and habitat restoration event at the Santa Fe Valley portion of the Coast to Crest Trail that traverses the Crosby at Rancho Santa Fe Open Space Preserve. 

The event was on Saturday, June 16th from 8:45AM to 10:30AM.  We hope you enjoyed it!

For additional information, please visit the Open Space Preserve Website.