Planning for the Planner's Future -- Leslie Olson, AICP, and District Planning Group Discovered

One of the names synonymous with the overall County Planning Process for the Saint Lucie County Region of Florida is Leslie Olson, AICP.  The former Saint Lucie County Planner has recently embarked on a new private business venture, District Planning Group, shedding the County mantle for "an other side of the  project" approach to making the business of growth and prosperity for private and public sectors a win-win for all parties involved.

Using a comparison of Planning as the General Contractor (GC) of business and the various parts are the contractors, artisans, and critical members of the public to be served, Ms. Olson shares with the Florida Business Forum's anchor and business guru Sam Yates the decision process that went into moving from government to private and some of the key factors that may serve as mentoring waypoints for others. 

As we learn in this first episode of what will be at least two episodes of the Florida Business Forum Podcast, the Treasure Coast of Florida is lucky to have its future in the hands of well qualified experts like District Planning Group. 

Here's Episode One of our multi-part series featuring one of the up and coming new business ventures in Florida. 

Transcript

Sam Yates: 0:06

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another informative episode of the Florida Business Forum Podcast. Let's open the Florida Business Forum floodgates and let the information begin to flow. Here's your Florida Business Forum information guru and Anchorman Sam Yates. Hello, everyone, and welcome to another exciting edition of the Florida Business Forum. We're the only Business Forum Podcast of its kind in the entire state of Florida. And we like to focus on businesses that are new and upcoming, but at the same time, those that have been here and are doing a job that we like to recognize. And my guest today fits both of those categories. And I want to welcome Leslie Olson, Leslie, you're alphabetical nomenclature is a I see p, which stands for the American Institute of Certified planners. And we're gonna find out a bit more of why that's so important. But welcome to the program today.

Leslie Olson: 1:04

Thank you, Sam. So happy to be here.

Sam Yates: 1:06

And you have a new business, you are with the county for many, many years. And we'll talk about that a little bit. But your new businesses, the district planning group, the first thing I want to know is why that particular name?

Leslie Olson: 1:20

Well, my business partner and I Kara would both got our start in planning in historic preservation. And so we were both the Historic Preservation Officer for the City of Fort Pierce at different times. And because both of us love the historic nature of our adopted city for Pierce, and also the way that historic neighborhoods function, we really liked the idea of giving a nod to that in our new group, in our new business district, kind of references a sense of place. And that's really what we want to develop in our, in our professional career here at district planning group is, no matter what kind of work we do, we want to make sure it's focused on creating something of lasting value

Sam Yates: 2:13

when we get into that type of work, but you also have a very, I think, a very unique background. Tell us about your background.

Leslie Olson: 2:22

Well, yeah, I am a, I am a lucky girl who made made the most of my opportunities. My educational background is liberal arts only I have a BA, and it's in theology and literature,

Sam Yates: 2:38

and white a combination.

Leslie Olson: 2:41

Yeah, but you know, you know, for all those parents out there who are terrified that their kids are going to want a liberal arts degree. I think liberal arts, especially those liberal arts that focus on reading and analysis. They teach you how to dig for information, they teach you how to analyze it, and do complex analysis, and then how to write about it. And there are very few fields that don't benefit from that. One of the things that concerns me honestly, about the specialized fields, with the master's programs, especially is that I see a lot of folks struggling with that, that deeper analysis and ability to write technical reports. That's a real struggle for a lot of people who don't have a liberal arts background. So there is an upside to it. But yeah, so I just realized, as I was, in my crew, my career path of the 20s in my 20s, doing one desperate thing after another that I loved places that were old, and I didn't love places that were new. And I didn't know why until I stumbled across a book called a suburban nation. And it was written by the new urbanists that my business Cara was taught by and it was it gave me language for why I liked old places and didn't like new suburbs. And then I read everything I could find. I kind of taught myself planning and talked my way into a job during a boom here in Fort Pierce, when they didn't have enough planners, and although I wasn't qualified to be a planner, they gave me a job anyway.

Sam Yates: 4:37

Well, I'll take issue that you weren't qualified to be a planner because it was subsequently you have become one of the most recognized names in the planning arena, not just here in St. Lucie County, Fort Pierce and the Treasure Coast region but nationally as well. Well, I don't know about that. Thank you. Why would we hear planners talking about what's going on here in Florida many times they point to this region and you have had some responsibility in helping this region be what it is today.

Leslie Olson: 5:14

I have been so fortunate to be a part of some organizations that are just I am just so impressed with the organizations that I have been a part of, and the leadership that I have been able to work under it has been like getting a fellowship in governance.

Sam Yates: 5:33

For many years, you were the go to person in St. Lucie County. How does that transition from where you were with St. Lucie County as the planter and forth peers into the private practice? What was the impetus to say, I'm gonna go in business for myself, because I think a lot of other people may be in your shoes,

Leslie Olson: 5:55

right? It was, it was a surprise to me to come up with it, honestly. And I don't know that I would have had the courage to do it. Had I not had my longtime friend and colleague coaching me along the way and deciding to do it with me, I believe very much in balancing your weaknesses with the strengths of others. And I am so fortunate that when Kara wood and I started discussing the possibility of finding a way to impact our community, not from the public service side, but but from the private side from starting our own firm, that we we came up with a business model that is collaborative, instead of competitive. And I'll explain what I mean by that. And it's one of the things that we have really found we loved because of our experience in working so closely with all kinds of representatives and developers in St. Lucie County and in Fort Pierce over the past 15 years. We understand what everybody's strengths are, whether it's an engineer, or a surveyor, a another planner, everybody has different strengths, land use attorneys. And so what Karen and I do is we we are the General Contractors of the entitlement process, we don't swing the hammer, we don't draw, we don't draw the plans. But what we do is we find out what our client needs. And we put together the team of those subject matter experts from across our region. And then we manage that team to get something that will be a benefit to our community and a benefit to the developer. And that's really something that I learned, honestly, in my time as the Planning and Development Services Director for St. Lucie County was how to align goals. So the county has goals, and those are found in the comprehensive plan and land development code. And the developer has their goals, and those are always going to align somewhere and finding those alignments and, and, and explaining those those goals and how those work both to both sides. That is really, I really feel like I'm doing the same thing. I feel like I'm doing the exact same thing I'm doing I used to do as the director of planning. Now just finding, I find my way to those projects earlier, and help them get on the right path faster,

Sam Yates: 8:37

and perhaps avoid some of the hurdles that need to be cleared. That's where at least understand them better. And I have to tell you, I'm gonna pause for a moment so our audience can let us soak it. I don't think I have ever heard anyone give the GC a description of what you're doing. But you're absolutely right, a general contractor brings it all together. And if that somehow ends up on your website, you know, I think that's a big plus, because that's exactly what you have done. And I have worked on the outside of your sphere from a public relations and marketing standpoint most of the time, way back in the background where I like to, to be just to get things done. And I've seen that with you. I have seen you sit with a group and say this, and this and this, folks, let's get it all together. You have that ability and it is remarkable ability. Looking at from that perspective, perhaps what are some of the bigger project successes and perhaps even some that didn't quite work out the way that were envisioned and I use that did not work out with the same vision from the standpoint that sometimes we all don't get what we want, right things go through some examples perhaps

Leslie Olson: 9:59

Okay, Well, I think one of the things that I'm so proud of as a result of the support of the leadership at St. Lucie County is that when I left when I left the driver's seat at Planning and Development Services, we I left I left it running like a well oiled machine because I was supported and building a fantastic team of professionals from a disparate group because Planning and Development Services in St. Lucie County is more than planning, its planning. It's the building department. It is code enforcement, it is economic development. It's geographic information systems mapping. And so you have a wide range of of people that you need to put together to make that operate seamlessly. And I was supported in in creating a team that is phenomenal. It's a phenomenal team of professionals over there at St. Lucie County. And because we were able to build such a great team and focus on aligning goals from both the private and the public side. When we have been brought challenging but exciting projects at St. Lucie County, we have been able to make them move quickly. Because the team is good. And because everybody understands where we're trying to get to. And everybody's pulling in the same direction. And I want to I want to give thanks to both the Board of County Commissioners. And to our head, our head leader over there, Howard Tipton, I'm a huge Howard Tipton fan have been ever since I saw him interview with the county and just feel so lucky to have worked for him. So two projects. Let's let's talk about let's talk about pursuit, because pursuit is one of those projects where what could have been a problem became an opportunity because of our great team.

Sam Yates: 12:08

For those who do not perhaps recognize the name pursuit pursuit is a boat manufacturing company. Yes, they are here in St. Lucie County, not too far from where we are here in downtown Fort Pierce.

Leslie Olson: 12:22

Right. And, yes, they have a long history here in St. Lucie County. And they've been growing, the boat industry has been growing and pursuit has been growing. And they were ready to expand and they were ready to expand big. So they had long ago purchased land adjacent to their property, assuming that they would expand into that. What they found is that there is a protected endangered bird on that property. And building on property where you have something endangered A is not great for your environment, and be very difficult, because you have state and federal regulatory agencies that say yes, you can build here, but it's both going to cost you a lot of time and a lot of money to mitigate those impacts. And so generally, if you find a Florida Scrub J habitat on your property, you're looking at up to around 18 months of a regulatory process and millions and millions and millions of dollars in mitigation fees for people to buy other land for those scrub jays to live on. Right. And so our environmental resources department at St. Lucie County in collaboration with the planning department, worked together with pursuit as soon as that was found out even before they applied to for their site plan. And we came up with a strategy where the where pursuit would donate most of that land to the county as a mitigation bank. And then the county would advocate with those state and federal agencies to get this done fast because they went above and beyond what they knew they were going to have to do. And we were able to get that site plan done in six weeks.

Sam Yates: 14:10

Wow. Six weeks, six weeks.

Leslie Olson: 14:14

And that's a half a million square feet. That's incredible. It was it was amazing it and it's a win for the county. It's a win for that species. It's a win for manufacturing. It's a win for job creation. And that is really like that is that is what we want to see here in St. Lucie County is aligning all those goals to get great stuff done.

Sam Yates: 14:41

For our audience. Now, periodically if you follow any of the podcasts that I do, I sometimes like to pause because we're audio we're verbal, and we're expressing words and comments back from that I can I can share that background of liberal arts and journalism, for example, and I like to paint a word picture, when Leslie was just describing what happened in mitigating an endangered or a protected species, the Florida Scrub J and how the county stepped in, and everybody got to work together and they came up with a plan in six weeks. If you could have seen her face, you were beaming. She was just ecstatic. The smile was here, her eyes were twinkly she had an enthusiasm in every aspect. And that's something that that is hard to describe. But you had that spirit because that was your project.

Leslie Olson: 15:43

It was it was I was so proud to be able to have an impact on making that happen. And so the county has replicated that a number of times, when you have a project that is going to make a positive impact. The county has that model of how do we come together with the applicant to find a way forward that makes sense for everybody. And so we were, I'm just that was a phenomenal experience to be a part of and to help our staff, you know, learn that. That's one of my favorite things to do is to mentor younger people in this field and help them learn how to make those great things happen. It doesn't it's not all just about checking boxes, does it meet with the code? Because as as you'll hear Kara, say, in another episode. Sometimes the code makes good things harder. Because you write a code to address a problem, and it has it has impacts on other things that you never would have expected it would have. And so keeping your eye on the goal, and figuring out how to make all of those regulations work together to get you there. That takes a real special set of skills and mentoring younger people to learn how to do that was one of my favorite things to do at the county.

Sam Yates: 17:13

Before we go too much further, because I like to keep an eye on the time, will you be able to come back for another episode? Yes,

Leslie Olson: 17:21

I'd be happy to thank you, Sam, there's

Sam Yates: 17:23

many other things that we're going to talk about. Before we leave, though, part of that mentoring metric goes both ways up and down the spectrum. When you were at a point of deciding that I will exit the county and be in my own business. You did not let that be a surprise with your managers, your bosses at the county was that how did that work? And was that was something that that you just had to do that way just knowing you?

Leslie Olson: 17:58

Yes. I have, like I've said, I have I will always look back at my time at the county as one of the very, most special times of my life. The people, the public servants that I was blessed to work with and be mentored by is it was so hard to leave. I will tell you, it was so hard to leave that team. So you know as soon as Kara and I started discussing it, we got ourselves a business coach through we venture at FIT Janette karar, she was amazing. So shout out to Jeanette and she and she said no, you absolutely have a business model. Get out there. Why? Why have you waited so long? The the first conversation was with Howard Tipton, our County Administrator and my boss, Mark Satterlee, the deputy County Administrator I report to and then to my second assistant director, Ben Bowser, and coming up with a strategy to make sure that that message came out to everybody at the same time. But mostly my biggest concern was to make sure that the person that Howard had enough time to fill the seat that I was leaving the planning, the planning director is a position that you don't want to leave open. And so I told Howard, I would stay as long as it took for him to fill that with a person that he wanted for that seat. And I will tell you that the county is in a better position now than they were when I left because Howard was able to appoint Mai Tais Santa Maria, who at one time worked in bed And bolsters position is the Assistant Director of Planning and Development Services. And she's better than I am. She is fantastic. And I that was the best thing. On the day I left the county was knowing that my take would be there to take that role. And the county was going to be in fantastic hands.

Sam Yates: 20:22

Ladies and gentlemen, I have to say that in all reality, the consummate planner is when you are looking at where you're going for the future, and you are planning your exit your own exit and your own continuation of the job and that that's the ultimate planners like, I want to congratulate you on the new business. Say thank you for everything that you have done for St. Lucie County, you have left an indelible mark there. We're gonna continue to keep an eye on you. Yeah. All right. And again, you are going to be able to come back for a new show or another show in the near future.

Leslie Olson: 21:04

Yes, I'd be happy to thank you, Sam. Lots of exciting things happening around this place.

Sam Yates: 21:09

We indeed are going to look into a lot of those items here on the Florida Business Forum. I'm Sam Yates. And until our next episode, have a great day everybody. The Florida Business Forum is dedicated to showcasing Florida businesses and CEOs of all sorts to promote their business or not for profit in the only business forum of its type in Florida. Thanks for tuning in. And remember, the Florida Business Forum is now accepting guest applications. Have a great day everyone and stay tuned for more business