Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Chris Neamtzu has his eye on planning

He now heads Wilsonville's planning department

• By: Patrick Johnson  
• Published: 1/26/2010 11:12:48 AM

Photo By: Patrick JohnsonTop job
Chris Neamtzu, pictured here with his 4-year-old son Jonathan, has been involved with many of the landscaping, tree and natural areas during his 15 years with the city of Wilsonville.

Wilsonville has changed, and Chris Neamtzu knows it.

Sitting in his office, looking at a 1995 aerial photo of the city, Neamtzu reflected on his career with the city of Wilsonville.

“Back then, Wilsonville was mostly known for Incredible Universe,” Neamtzu said.

In November, he was promoted from his position as long-range planning manager to fill the spot of retiring planning director Sandi Young.

Now Neamtzu is jumping into his new role, with his first public issue to produce a staff report on the proposed skate board park.

“When I started I was an associate planner, I did code enforcement, answered phone calls and did basic administrative review,” Neamtzu said. “I haven’t been bored in the time I have been here. I have been challenged every single day.”

He didn’t start at the city with a desire to work his way up the ranks. It just happened that way, he said, mostly because he loves the different challenges that small cities offer. In April, he will have been with the city for 15 years.

“I have been able to work in areas of landscape design, to sign codes to 500 acre park master planning,” Neamtzu said. “That’s one of the reasons I like working for a small city, you get exposed to an incredible breadth of topics. It has been, and continues to be, a lot of fun.”

Neamtzu said he doesn’t take the responsibility lightly, knowing he has big shoes to fill.

“There have been some great people in this job over the years,” he said. “Ben Altman, who is a friend of mine, Stephan Lashbrook, who was one of my college professors and who hired me to the city, and Sandi Young, who had 30 years of experience.”

One of the benefits, Neamtzu said, is that Lashbrook is back with the city, and has always been one of Neamtzu’s mentors.

Lashbrook was hired earlier this year as assistant community development director to help Michael Bowers with a number of projects.

“The one thing I really like about Chris is that he is a hard worker,” Lashbrook said. “In this business that’s what it takes. Making a presentation in front of the council, making sure you get as many details and as much information as possible for the decision makers to make the best decision. Chris does that, plus he has a real advantage having been here for almost 15 years, he understands the community and that is worth a lot in terms of the politics and geography and all the things that come with his position.”

Neamtzu, 43, particularly enjoys working on the city’s tree programs, whether it’s replanting at Graham Oaks Nature Park, or getting the Heritage Tree Program off the ground. He  traces his love of trees and botany to his days at Humboldt State University,

“I went to college and got my planning degree from Humboldt State University, which is where some of the largest trees in the world reside, the coast redwood trees,” he said. “I spent a lot of time studying redwood forest ecology in college. I have always been a fan of botany in general and loved trees and their beauty. I have always loved them and appreciated them. When I came to Wilsonville in 1995 there was nobody who was really a specialist in the tree area, so over the years I have been so fortunate to work on things I like and care about.”

Neamtzu said he already is facing some challenges in his new job. In his previous position, he spent many hours at regional meetings and conferences. Now he has a planning department to manage, so he is staying in the office more and having staff members go to regional meetings.

“I was gone a lot in my other job, and it’s critical to be here,” Neamtzu said. “It’s tough to manage from downtown Portland. I have a lot of faith that this team can take on the challenges that face us.”

Moving forward, Neamtzu said economic development – including working on a grant to help with planning infrastructure in the Coffee Creek Industrial Area near Day Street – is going to be one of his primary focuses.

In addition he said he is working on having his staff do more of the reports and findings for larger projects, instead of hiring consultants.

“Historically we have hired consultants, but we have five stamped civil engineers on staff, so let’s get them doing work,” Neamtzu said.

The Frog Pond area also will be a focus in the coming year with a planned 1,000 dwelling units on the 181 acres that was added.  Neamtzu has also said his department will be focusing on the council goal of engaging the community on sustainability and smart growth concepts.

“For the next six to eight months, maybe even longer depending on the outcome of the engaging part, we are going to be going out and asking the community what they think about some of these topics and trying to find out effective ways to engage them,” Neamtzu said. “Whether that is family-fun events, debates or other types of public information opportunities. We look forward to having a dialogue with the community about these concepts.”

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