Civic planning post returns to city staff status with new hire

Monday night was welcome night for Prince Rupert City Council, with Mayor Brain formally congratulating new City Manager Rob Buchan as he took up his duties for his first City Council session as the city's top bureaucrat. 

The former contract planner for the city, in turn introducing the city's newest staff hire, Dr. Coralei Breen, who was the successful applicant for the city's recent job posting for a City Planner. 

"Thank you Mr. Mayor it's a pleasure to be here in this new capacity for the first time. 

Yes we do have an announcement,  we closed our competition last week, last Monday for the City Planner position and I'm pleased to announce that as of today, this afternoon, we hired our new City Planner, Doctor Coralei Breen and she is here with us today"

Dr. Breen comes to Prince Rupert having worked most recently as a Senior planner with the Cowichan Valley Regional District. 

As Mr. Buchan explained it, she will be a somewhat familiar face for him, the two having crossed career paths in the past on Vancouver Island, including work with the District of North Saanich.

"Coralie is a community planner with experience at regional and municipal governance in current and long range planning. Most recently with the Cowichan Valley Regional District; she is known for her expertise in complex community development planning and community engagement and consultation.

She holds a PhD in Public Administration, as well as a Masters in Planning. 

I have had the pleasure to work with Coralei in the past and I know her to be an exceptional project manager, community builder, she's innovative and comes to the table with solutions. In other words she will fit in very nicely with the staff that we have here now"

As she takes up her duties, she becomes the first city staff planner on hand since Zeno Krekic left the city's employ in March of 2020.  

Following his departure,  planning themes were taken on first by former City Manager Robert Long, though as the months evolved, much of the planning work for the city was taken on by Mr. Buchan's firm iPlan. 

They made for additional duties as he and his son Chris steered the city through an Official Community Plan overhaul, as well as the day to day planning concerns of regular council business.

And while Ms. Breen arrives in town with the OCP now firmly in place, she has had some experience of her own on the theme, recently working on the Official Community Plan for Electoral Areas of the Cowichan Valley Regional District. 

Ahead for her as she begins her time in Prince Rupert, will be Council's ambitious plans for downtown redevelopment and the creation of extensive housing resources for the community as Council anticipates a strong surge in population in the years to come.

Should she have any questions on how it all may fit in with the new OCP, Dr. Breen won't have far to go to get some answers; with Dr. Buchan the architect of the OCP overhaul now sitting in a office not too far from her own.

You can review the introductions from the City's Video Archive starting at the very beginning of Monday's session.

More items of note from Monday's Council session can be explored from our Council Timeline.

Past council discussion themes can be reviewed here, while previous notes on some of the city's planning themes can be examined here.