Chris Shaheen (Jericho Town Planner)

Chris Shaheen: Jericho’s new Town Planner

Chris Shaheen, Jericho’s new Town Planner, spent the majority of his career in Washington DC. That city has a population of almost 690,000. In contrast, Jericho has just over 5,000 residents. Nevertheless, Shaheen says that a lot of the issues Jericho is facing are similar to those he encountered in DC.

Shaheen worked for over two decades in Washington at the local, not federal, level. “I was ready for a change,” he said. “I had accomplished a lot, and I was ready to try something new. Jericho seemed like a good place to do something new and different.” Shaheen’s husband grew up in Burlington and the couple had long-term plans of moving to the area. When Shaheen’s mother-in-law, a resident of Newark, Vermont, sent him a newspaper ad showing the Jericho job opening, he decided to apply. “I was really thrilled to be offered the position,” he said.

Shaheen has a Bachelors of Landscape Architecture with a minor in Urban Planning from Ball State University, and a Masters of American Studies from George Washington University. He started his career in the private sector with a landscape architecture firm in Maryland. “That’s where I learned accountability and staying on task,” he said. Shaheen followed that job with a stint of four and half years as a preservation planner for the National Park Service and then as a Neighborhood Planner for Arlington County. From there he began work in Washington DC, finishing his urban career as DC’s Lead Community Planner.

Despite the obvious differences between Washington and Jericho, Shaheen said he was surprised at how easy the transition has been and how many similarities there are between the two locales. Working in DC involved multiple levels of bureaucracy, but planning at the town level also requires cooperation with county, state, and federal entities.

Shaheen said that everyone he has met has been very friendly and inviting. He enjoys the relative lack of traffic for his commute, particularly since he travels from Burlington to Jericho while most drivers are going the opposite direction. “I’m really impressed with the professionalism of the zoning regulations and planning in Vermont, in general,” he said. Although he has never worked at the municipal level, he believes that his position as Jericho Town Planner combines his early work protecting agricultural land, his park service work, and his urban planning.

Shaheen said the two major issues facing DC are affordable housing and climate change and he was pleased to see those two items flagged in the new Jericho Town Plan. He praised the breadth of knowledge of Planning Commission members. “There are so many people here who are so passionate,” he said. “I’m excited to work with all the people I’ve met.” Shaheen stressed that he will be creating his own work plan, but Planning Commission members will be partners. “I want to work with them on Jericho’s journey forward,” he said. Shaheen has a lot of experience designing pedestrian thoroughfares and recognizes that Jericho does not have many sidewalks. “That’s an area we can improve on,” he said. “We’ve got plans for walkable village centers, so this gives us a great opportunity.” Shaheen noted that sometimes it’s better to start from scratch than to have to improve on substandard facilities. “This gives us a chance to do it right the first time,” he said.

In his spare time, Shaheen likes to read, bake, and go to the gym. In Washington he was a member of the Virginia Bronze handbell group, and he has joined the Northern Bronze ensemble. He just bought his first ever set of snow tires. “I’m looking forward to exploring all the natural beauty Vermont has to offer,” he said. Shaheen has been taken on walking tours by several members of the Planning Commission and hopes to find time to visit the rest of the town.

With his background in historic preservation, Shaheen is pleased to see so many of Vermont’s historic structures still intact. “I think all of Vermont’s planning involves conservation,” he said. “That’s something I found really appealing about the job. You get to do it all. It’s great to work on village centers and great to work on the conservation of natural resources but they go together and the strength of one makes the other more meaningful.”