Dave and JohnWilly have a passion for community planning. They founded Blue City Lab recognizing the united interest in longer life spans associated with many of the basic principles of urban planning, they realized their knowledge and experience with urban planning can assist cities with changing their built environments to become a Blue City.
Blue City Lab is a full-service urban planning consulting firm providing analysis, recommendations, strategic plans and implementation plans associated with cities converting into a Blue City.
Meet the Team
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Dave has been a city planner and economic developer for over 24 years and worked with several cities’ community plans and policies to help implement by-right form-based codes to create active, walkable, connected, sustainable communities. He has assisted in revitalizing downtowns and urban areas involving road diets, up zoning, mixed-use zoning, by-right zoning, design regulations (not guidelines) and providing public art and recreational opportunities. His experience with Housing Elements resulted in created one of the only housing elements in the State of California to meet its housing needs in every income category. Dave was project manager for cities of complex specific plans and General Plan Updates including successful voter approvals. Dave lectures at San Diego State University educating students on land use analysis, zoning, property proformas, property appraisals, site design and developments, and sustainability. As a real estate broker and economic developer, Dave has quality relationships with commercial brokers and developers providing siting analysis, rezoning analysis and highest and best use analysis. Understanding how developers and investors think coupled with his knowledge of project proformas and exactions allows him to understand profitable and when a city is asking for too much or too little.
Having managed economic development, planning, building, code compliance and stormwater departments for cities and collaborating amongst all divisions for cities, Dave understands the balance and trade-offs cities undertake in order changes to the built environment to occur. Dave knows the "ins and outs" of local government to remove the red tape and move into construction in a reasonable time frame. Dave is an expert in community perception, branding and marketing, web design, social media management, SEO, public relations with community partners and stakeholders, public outreach, and providing robust workshops and surveys to engage the public and right-size and best-fit community into capital improvements. With an eye for design and aesthetics, Dave also understands the practical ideals that communities can mold to suit their vision.
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He is a cultural observer, city explorer, and creative thinker with a deep curiosity about how people experience the built environment. With a background in architecture and experience in urban design, he has developed a keen eye for human proportions and spatial relationships within the public realm. His travels and time spent outdoors continually shape how he sees cities as living, breathing ecosystems.
With more than a decade of experience in planning and design, he brings a strong understanding of guiding projects from early concept to the public process. He skillfully balances developer goals with civic input to deliver outcomes that reflect community values. His work centers on the public realm, often described as the city’s living room, where everyday life unfolds.
At the intersection of urbanism and design, he shapes human-centered environments that foster a strong sense of place. With a respect to culture and a commitment to lived experiences, he brings a thoughtful, people-first approach to every project. He thrives in purpose-driven, cross-disciplinary teams and believes that the best ideas emerge when different disciplines and communities come together.