Planning Board Supervisor Celebrates 23 Years in the Business

By : Erin Haskell

Vineland- Kathie Hicks, the Vineland Planning Board Supervisor celebrated her 23rd year working for Vineland’s Planning Board and City Hall this year.

Hicks, 58, graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor of science in geography and urban and regional planning. She then acquired a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Pittsburgh. Her first professional job was with Cumberland County in 1981. She worked there for seven years, was promoted to the position of Assistant Planning Director, and then came to Vineland’s Planning Board and has been there for the past 23 years.

“My job is varied,” said Hicks. “The primary function is supervising development review, like all applications for commercial industrial development have plans associated with them and they all need board approvals whether it’s Planning Board or Zoning Board, so I supervise that function.”

The job of Planning Board Supervisor allows Hicks to dabble in many different areas of the city.

“Being a Planner, I’m a generalist,” said Hicks. “So I have involvement in a lot of issues as they arise like recreation and affordable housing. Whatever the hot topic is at the time, I would have involvement as a city planner.”

At the current time, Hicks finds herself faced with primarily development applications because the city finished its amended master Plan in 2008. By law they are required to reexamine the Master Plan every six years but due to the current Master Plan’s prolonged planning, their work with it is finished for awhile.

A typical day in the office for Hicks includes multiple phone calls and walk-ins.

“Our policy is to make ourselves available,” said Hicks. “If people come to the desk, we provide them with guidance on how the process works, how we handle development applications, and what the requirements are.”

Lately, traffic through the Development office has been low due to the poor economy, except for those that seem to be taking advantage of the low construction costs offered by the city.

“We’ve got a number of churches being built that have gotten approval, like a Muslim Mosque and a Russian Orthodox Church,” said Hicks. “A number of these churches have come in to either build new or expand because of the low construction costs.”

When asked what she’s accomplished as Planning Board Supervisor, Hicks responded that she is most proud of obtaining a seat on a four county transportation planning organization that Vineland was not originally supposed to be a part of.

“In the past five years, I’ve brought in almost seven million dollars of funding,” said Hicks. “If I hadn’t been at that place, at that time and advised the city and if Mayor Romano (current Mayor Romano’s father) hadn’t been able to get us that seat we wouldn’t have gotten all of that funding over the years.”

Hicks hopes to keep doing what they’re doing and delve into more proactive planning in the future.

“I like this career because I’m a generalist,” said Hicks. “ I can stick my toe in anything, it’s different everyday, and I like that I’m not bored by it.”