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Fayetteville P&Z director leaves for nonprofit

By BEN NELMS
bnelms@TheCitizenNews.com

The two-part tenure of Fayetteville’s Planning and Zoning Director Jahnee Prince came to an end July 8.

Heading the city department for more than six of the last eight years, Prince was hired as vice-president for policy at the Duluth-based nonprofit Council for Quality Growth.

“The council is a nonprofit trade organization that stays on top of all the issues that affect the development industry,” Prince said. “A lot of their work involves mediating and facilitating issues and relationship-building between developers and government. You have to have somebody that speaks both languages.”

Prince first came to Fayetteville as planning and zoning director in January 1997 after serving with the planning division of Atlanta Regional Commission. She left in August 1999 to work as project manager in the Atlanta Center for Connective Architecture of New York-based Cooper Carry, Inc.

That type of private sector environment provided a new type of diversity to her professional experience, Prince said. She returned to Fayetteville and her old job in December 2001.

Prince said she was contacted recently by a recruiter who explained that she had been recommended for the opening at the Council for Quality Growth by an Atlanta engineering firm. That contact led to more discussion and more information about the position.

“The job description was really specific about what type of person would be best for the position and the hard and soft skills needed because there is a lot of relationship building to be done,” Prince explained.

Though serving as Planning and Zoning Director is a position that requires ongoing precision and specificity, her animated nature was apparent as she continued. “I read it and thought, ‘This reads like me, this sounds like me.’ We talked a couple of times and they made me a job offer. And I wasn’t even looking.”

Prince summed up her time in Fayetteville and her move, referencing the coworkers, Planning and Zoning commissioners and others with whom she has worked during two stints here during more than six of the past eight and one-half years.

“It was nice to come back here and it’s hard to leave. I really like working with the mayor and council and the Planning Commission is great. And so are Bibi (Alli) and everybody I work with,” she said, with emotion in her voice and in her eyes. “I’m excited for the opportunity and I’m sad to leave. I love this town.”

Impressions of Prince’s impact and significance to the Planning and Zoning Commission came easy for member Allan Feldman, who said Prince possessed a knowledge that kept the commission on track.

“Jahnee gave us good guidance and steered us in a direction that wouldn’t come back to bite us later,” he said. “She was interested in the city and informed on the regulations. We could count on her knowledge of the regulations and we could lean on her with the assurance that we’d being going in the right direction.”

The Council for Quality Growth is a nonprofit formed in 1985 and expanded in 1985 to include the Atlanta region. The mission was to promote continued, balanced and responsible growth throughout the region. The council has contributed to development issues such as water and wastewater resource management planning, post-construction storm-water development regulations, Georgia soil erosion and sediment control law and provided advocacy with local governments for alternative development types such as conservation subdivisions, open space communities and revitalization projects. Council members include developers, builders, banks, utilities, engineers, architects, land planners and attorneys.