NYPF Board of Directors and Staff

The members of the Board of Directors of the New York Planning Federation, as required by the organization’s by-laws, are planning practitioners representing the nine regions that encompass New York State. The Board is a working, grass roots group that understands the needs of the communities it serves and seeks to fulfill its mission of providing training and education to the planning and zoning community. Today's Board includes not only planning and zoning board members from across the state but also professional planners, land use attorneys, educators, engineers and elected officials.

Board Members:

President

Wendy E. Weber Salvati, AICP is a Senior Planner with Wendel Duchscherer Architects & Engineers PC. She has over 20 years of comprehensive knowledge and experience as a coastal, environmental and land use planner. Her portfolio is comprised of numerous projects involving waterfront planning, comprehensive planning, zoning analysis and code review, SEQR and environmental review, site plan and subdivision review and agricultural protection. She is Vice Chair of the Town of Clarence Planning Board.

Vice Presidents

Fred Wilcox is 1^st Vice President of NYPF. He is Vice President of Demographic Development for Claritas, Inc. and chairs both the Town of Ithaca Planning Board and the Tompkins Planning Advisory Board. He is also a member of other local boards and committees dealing with land use planning.

Laura E. Moore is NYPF’s 2^nd Vice President. She is Vice Chair of the Warrensburg Planning Board and has provided technical assistance to the 13 communities of Warren County on issues involving housing rehabilitation, infrastructure projects, community development, tourism initiatives, and planning and zoning programming. Currently, she chairs the committee developing a comprehensive plan for the Town of Warrensburg.

Immediate Past President

Ron Brand is President of RLB Group, a Rochester-based planning and consulting firm, and a former planner with the Monroe County Department of Planning. His municipal clients include the Towns of Farmington, Canandaigua and Mendon.

Metropolitan Region
Frank Fish, FAICP is a principal with the New York firm of BFJ Planning. His work specializes in comprehensive planning, real estate development and public approvals, and he has represented more than 30 municipalities throughout the Northeast, as well as major private sector clients.

Long Island Region

Andrew P. Freleng, AICP is Chief Planner at the Suffolk County Department of Planning and Vice Chair of the Central Pine Barrens Credit Clearinghouse. Prior to coming to Suffolk County, he was Chief Planner for the Town of Southampton and, earlier, Chief Environmental Planner for H2M Group, an engineering, architecture and planning firm. He also served four years as Trustee of the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson, from 1999-2003.

Michael Verruto owns and operates Long Island Precast, Inc. He has served on the Board of Trustees, the Planning Board and as Commissioner of Public Works and Deputy Mayor of the Village of Port Jefferson. He is currently a member of the Village’s Zoning Board of Appeals.

Mid/Lower Hudson Region

Edwin Jackson is Chair of the Planning Board for the Town of Tusten.

Rudolph J. Yacyshyn is a community planner. For nearly 40 years he has been a member of the Town of Clarkstown Planning Board, where he currently serves as Vice Chair. In the 1990s, he served as Chair of the Rockland County Planning Board. He was founder and first President Emeritus of the Rockland Municipal Planning Federation, while also serving as Hudson Valley director of the NY Metro Chapter of the American Planning Association.

Capital District Region
David Everett, Esq. is an attorney with the firm of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, specializing in environmental and land use practice. His areas of expertise include land use law, zoning and planning, SEQRA compliance, Superfund litigation, solid waste management and wetlands regulations. He is also Chair of the Town of Chatham Zoning Board of Appeals.

Tim Stalker was appointed to the Town of Austerlitz (Columbia County) planning board in 1995 and became its chair the following year. He also has chaired the Columbia County Planning Board since 2005 after joining it as a member in 1999. From 2001-2004, he chaired the Town of Austerlitz’s comprehensive plan committee, helping develop the Town’s first comprehensive plan. When not involved with municipal or county responsibilities, Tim is a general contractor specializing in renovation of older homes.

Upper Hudson Region
Vacant

Adirondack/North Country Region
Vacant

Southern Tier Region
Vacant

Central New York Region
Tim Frateschi is a member of the law firm of Harris Beach, PLLC.  He practices in the Public Finance and Economic Development Practice Group, representing governmental and quasi-governmental agencies in all aspects of municipal law.  He also chairs the Planning Board of the Town of Salina.              

Doug Miller is the owner of Miller Engineers located in Manlius, New York.  He has been actively involved in planning activities for over two decades, serving on the Town of Pompey Planning Board as Chairman during that time.  A Registered Professional Engineer in several states with 25 years of professional experience, he has a background in land use planning, municipal engineering, environmental compliance, project management, and construction administration services.

Finger Lakes Region

T C Lewis has completed 25 years as a member of the Town of Perinton Planning Board, 18 of them as Chairman or Vice Chairman. He served on the Monroe County Planning Board for 13 years.

Jim Martin has served as chairman of the Town of Chili planning board since 2004 and has been a planning board member since 2001. His other municipal activities included chairing an ad hoc committee on creating an architectural review commission, which was subsequently established by the town board. He also had extensive involvement in drafting an updated zoning code for the Town. Jim retired from the Eastman Kodak Company in 1999 after 32 years there.

Western Region
Tim Pazda is a member of the Town of Clarence Planning board.

At-Large Members

John (Jack) E. Benjamin is President of Three Rivers Development Corporation, where he has been employed since 1973. He is a member of the NYS Economic Development Council, the International Downtown Association, the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Certified Planners. Active in the community, he is President of the LPGA Corning Classic and serves on the board of several area organizations, including Corning Hospital, Five Star Bank and Guthrie HealthCare Systems.

Scott Chatfield is an attorney in private practice focusing on municipal law. He serves as a resource for the NYS Commission on Rural Resources, is an author and frequent lecturer on legal issues.

Michael J. Kayes is Director of Planning and Development for Montgomery County. He is also President of the National Association of Planners and the Mohawk Valley Economic Development District and serves on the executive committee of the Hudson-Mohawk Resource Conservation and Development Council.

Andrew Labruzzo, AICP is a Coastal Resources Specialist with the NYS Department of State’s Division of Coastal Resources. In 20+ years as a professional planner in New York, he has also worked for the Albany County Department of Economic Development, Conservation & Planning; the Hudson River Valley Greenway Communities Council; the NYS Department of Environmental Protection; and the Putnam County Division of Planning & Development.

Peter Vars, P.E. is a principal and the Vice President of BME Associates, a civil engineering, surveying and land planning firm in Fairport. He has over 20 years of experience in site engineering and private sector land development projects throughout western New York, including the design, preparation and implementation of stormwater pollution prevention plans and the SEQRA process. He is also a member of numerous statewide organizations and teaches in the Land Use Decision-Making Training Program of the Monroe County Department of Planning.

Past Presidents (ex-officio)

David Kay is a staff economist at Cornell University's Community and Rural Development Institute (CaRDI). He provides CaRDI with leadership in the Land Use and Landscape Management programming. His research and outreach topics include land use planning, community and economic development, and local government. He has served as a member and Chairman of the City of Ithaca Planning and Development Board and of the Tompkins County Planning Federation, and he is a past member of the Executive Committee of the Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association.

Bruce Boncke, PE is a partner in BME Associates, with more than 30 years in the consulting field. As a design engineer, he has done extensive planning and design work for numerous municipal and private projects. A past president of the Rochester Section ASCE, he continues to be an active member of NSPE and numerous planning organizations.

J. Donald Faso is a Town Councilman in Chili, NY. Other affiliations include Director of the Gates-Chili Chamber of Commerce and membership of the NYS Association of Professional Land Surveyors. He is also past Chair of the Monroe County Planning Board.

James Hotaling is the former Chief of Local Government Services for the Adirondack Park Agency. He has also served as a member of both the Saranac Lake Planning Board and its school board. A registered architect and member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), he co-authored the NYPF publication, “The Short Course: A Basic Guide for Planning and Zoning Boards of Appeal in New York State.”

David Kay is a staff economist at Cornell University’s Community and Rural Development Institute (CaRDI), where he provides leadership in the Land Use and Landscape Management programs. His research and outreach topics include land use planning, community and economic development and local government. He has served as a member and chair of the City of Ithaca Planning Board and the Tompkins County Planning Federation and is a past member of the Executive Committee of the Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association.

John A. Keogh is a member and former Chair of the Village of Suffern Planning Board. He serves as planning consultant to the Town of Ramapo, where he was a staff member for many years, as well as to the Village of Sloatsburg.

Arthur J. Koweek is a member of the Columbia County Planning Board and former Chair of the City of Hudson Planning Board.

Lucille Mayer, Esq. is an attorney specializing in planning and zoning law. She is former Chair of the Town of Huntington Planning Board and a former Secretary of the Suffolk County Planning Commission.

Mildred M. Whalen is a member of the Town of Canton Planning Board.

Staff Members:

Judith Breselor, AICP is Executive Director of the New York Planning Federation. She previously served as Commissioner of Planning and Development for the City of Troy; as Director of Planning, Development and Zoning for the City of Rensselaer; and as Senior Planner for the NYS Hudson River Valley Greenway Communities. A newly-elected member of the Rensselaer County Legislature, she is also a part-time Circuit Rider Planner for the Lake George Watershed Conference and President of the NY Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association.

Lael Locke is a Community Planner with NYPF. She has served as a Village Trustee in Chatham, NY since 1997 and was a member of that municipality’s Comprehensive Planning Committee. A former newspaper editor/publisher, she served nine years as a board member of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, where she continues to sit on several committees. She is also a member of the agriculture committee of the Columbia Land Conservancy.

Stephanie Anderson is an Administrative Assistant with NYPF. She retired from the New York State Department of Health in 2008, after 14 years of work in the Bureau of Budget Management, the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control and the Division of Family Health. Prior to joining the NYS Department of Health, she worked for the State’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal from 1987-1994.

Theresa Zakrzewski is an Administrative Assistant with NYPF. She was formerly confidential secretary and principal stenographer with the Troy Housing Authority; a legal secretary at the firm of Bernard, Overton & Russell; and secretary to the branch manager of Leaseway Transportation Corporation.