In 2018, the CSPDC welcomed Ms. Rhonda Cooper as a non-elected Rockingham County representative to the Board of Commissioners. She has been a valued member of the Board and its Executive Committee, contributing significantly to the CSPDC’s ability to serve the region. At the end of July, Ms. Cooper plans to retire.  We wish her well in retirement; she will be greatly missed!

Ms. Cooper has been an integral planning partner of the CSPDC for more than three decades. Since joining Rockingham County in 1993, Ms. Cooper has been deeply involved in county and regional collaboration, her most recent role being Director of Community Development. Ms. Cooper holds a bachelor’s degree in planning and a master’s in urban and environmental planning from the University of Virginia.  She even worked for a summer at the CSPDC!

In 1997, Ms. Cooper joined the Executive Committee of the Rural Planning Caucus of Virginia (RPCVA), an organization dedicated to identifying, publicizing, and addressing the unique planning needs of small towns and rural areas. She served three terms as Chairperson of RPCVA from 2006 to 2008.

Following the 2000 Census, the population density of the area led to Harrisonburg and parts of Rockingham County being classified as “metropolitan.” This necessitated the formation of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Metropolitan Planning Organization (HRMPO) for transportation projects and regional collaboration, organized by the CSPDC. Ms. Cooper became a member in 2003, representing Rockingham County, and has served ever since, providing technical and planning expertise to the organization.

Please join us in thanking Ms. Cooper for her service to the Commission, and wish her a wonderful and much-deserved retirement!

Jen Debruhl, DRPT Director, Devon Thompson, CSPDC Transit Program Manager, Deanna Reed, Harrisonburg City Mayor

In September 2023, Devon Thompson, Transit Program Manager, was selected to participate in the inaugural class of the Virginia Transit Leadership Institute (VTLI). VTLI is a program of Virginia Transit Association (VTA), the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT), and state transit agencies, and is the Commonwealth’s first public transportation focused leadership program focused on cultivating and elevating future leaders within the transit industry.

The inaugural class of fellows, comprised of 15 transit professionals across the Commonwealth, met over the course of nine months. Fellows gained an extensive and comprehensive perspective into Virginia’s public transportation network by participating in six full-day sessions hosted around the state covering 32 transit-related topics ranging from legislation, funding, communications/community outreach, transit network and service planning, and leadership and operations.

The cohort graduated from the program at VTA’s 47th Annual Conference and Expo hosted in Harrisonburg, VA on May 22-23, 2024.

The CSPDC is pleased to announce that Devon Thompson and Zach Beard have been promoted from their role as Senior Planners to Transit and Transportation Program Managers.

Devon Thompson began working at the CSPDC in 2013 as an intern upon graduating from the University of Virginia’s Urban and Environmental Planning program. Over the years, Devon has worked on just about every program throughout the PDC, expanding her knowledge base first as an intern, then assistant planner, and eventually as a designated Transit Planner in 2017. Since then, Devon has been responsible for the management and oversight of the contracted service provision of the BRITE Bus system, developing budgets, the coordination of transit plans and studies, maintaining and reporting performance data to the National Transit Database, and facilitating the BRITE Transit Advisory Committee. As the new Transit Program Manager, Devon will continue to play a role in the strategic planning and higher order operations of the transit program, and will take on the supervision of the Transit Planner, transitioning some of the day-to-day operational responsibilities to that role.

Zach Beard has served as a transportation planner since 2019, most recently as a Senior Planner. Zach has staffed the Staunton-Augusta-Waynesboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (SAWMPO), coordinating monthly Policy Board and Technical Advisory Committee meetings. He has worked on countless small-area studies throughout the SAWMPO region, as well as other short- and long-range transportation plans. In addition to working with the MPO, Zach also helps coordinate the Rural Transportation Program, providing transportation planning support to the localities within the CSPDC region that are outside of the MPO boundaries. He also assists localities through their comprehensive plan development, including but not limited to, drafting and reviewing transportation chapters. As the Transportation Program Manager, Zach will take on the supervision of the Transportation Planner, and will work with the Director of Transportation to administer both Staunton-Augusta-Waynesboro and Harrisonburg-Rockingham Metropolitan Planning Organizations.  Zach is a graduate of UVA’s Urban and Environmental Planning program, earning his Master’s degree in 2016. With an interest in environmental planning, Zach also leads the CSPDC region’s Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP).

Please join us in congratulating Devon and Zach on these accomplishments and help us support them in their new roles.

SAW Housing will convene on June 27, 2024 to discuss the next steps in addressing housing challenges in the Staunton-Augusta-Waynesboro (SAW) area. Since the October 2023 SAW Housing Summit, the SAW Housing Steering Committee has been actively identifying strategies and solutions while sponsoring “Lunch & Learn” events on specific housing issues. Now, the Steering Committee is ready to introduce its proposed framework for future work.

Attendees will have the opportunity to preview the findings and recommendations from the CSPDC-commissioned Regional Housing Study. Mel Jones from the Virginia Center for Housing Research will present an overview of the SAW-specific data, while Jonathan Knopf from Housing Forward Virginia will outline the study’s recommendations and strategies.

The SAW Housing Summit: The Next Steps will take place from 9:00 AM to noon on June 27 in The Great Hall at the Blackburn Inn & Conference Center in Staunton. For more information on the event and to RSVP, please click here.

SAW Housing is an initiative led by the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge, Augusta Health, Valley Community Services Board, Shenandoah Valley Partnership, Valley Homeless Connection, Community Action Partnership of Staunton, Augusta, and Waynesboro (CAPSAW), and the CSPDC.

Rachel Kinzer joined the CSPDC as their newest Regional Planner on June 3. She is a recent graduate of the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture, earning her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Urban and Environmental Planning. She was an undergraduate and graduate research assistant for UVA’s Environmental Institute’s Climate Restoration Initiative. In that role, she helped conduct qualitative research on the potential of several carbon-capturing land uses and practices in select rural and urban localities in the state. Rachel is from Farmville, VA, and currently resides in Fishersville. In her free time, she enjoys walking trails with her dog. She looks forward to supporting and providing assistance to the communities in the region.