Assistant Planner

Assistant Planner

BKF is a multi-service infrastructure consulting firm providing civil engineering, construction management, environmental, planning, and surveying services across California, the Pacific Northwest, and beyond. With offices throughout California and the Portland area, BKF has served transportation, water resources, land development, government, and federal clients for over 110 years.

At BKF, you'll find a unique opportunity to grow your career with intention. Our culture values professional autonomy, innovation, and meaningful collaboration across offices. We are proud to be recognized with the Great Place to Work certification for the second year in a row.

The Assistant Planner supports public-sector planning departments by providing professional-level assistance on a variety of planning, zoning, and policy-related activities. This role focuses on assisting with day-to-day planning functions, supporting agency staff, and contributing to a range of current and long-range planning projects. The Assistant Planner works collaboratively with planners, agency staff, and community stakeholders to help ensure planning initiatives are implemented in accordance with applicable regulations, policies, and best practices. The position is well-suited for an early-career planning professional seeking hands-on experience in municipal and agency-based planning environments, with exposure to development review, policy implementation, and community planning efforts.

Responsibilities

• Manages and supports front counter planning efforts with various public planning departments
• Writes staff reports, resolutions, ordinances, and presents them to commissions, boards, and councils
• Assists in support of a range of planning projects and/or multi-agency/multi-jurisdictional planning efforts
• Support the development of long-term and short-term plans, programs, goals, and policies involving city/region wide planning initiatives, public transportation systems, economic development, etc.
• Participates in the development and maintenance of the General Plan and other specialized city plans and ensures planning programs/projects are consistent with city planning principles/criteria, applicable regulations, and other relevant factors
• Serves as a consultant to citizen groups, and other stakeholders related to planning policies/standards, issues, processes, procedures, zoning/rezoning issues, ordinance changes, and environmental regulations
• Facilitates meetings and/or presentations to bring together interested stakeholders to discuss proposed planning initiatives, assess obstacles, evaluate opposing views and interests, and determine areas of support
• Designs and conducts research to collect and assemble original data from land use maps, plans, reports, and surveys and uses data to define issues, assess trends, make recommendations, and identify relationships among disparate data, issues, and positions