RHCDA

RHCDA, in partnership with the St. Louis County Office of Community Development, sponsored the event on March 26th at Harris Stowe State University. Rick Bonasch and Brian Hurd, technical assistance staff with RHCDA, opened the training session with a photo narrative on the history of the St. Louis region and how land and building conditions over time have contributed to the environmental challenges and regulatory landscape of today.

Later in the day class attendees had the opportunity of listening to a series of presenters with a wealth of knowledge in housing development, historic preservation and environmental conditions. The presenters included: Jim Lutz, RHCDA Housing Development Project Manager; Mark Jefferies, Environmental Review Officer with the City of St. Louis' Planning and Urban Design Agency; Matt Bivens, RHCDA Historic Preservation Specialist; Sylvester Douglas, President of the Maurice Benjamin Company, an environmental assessment and testing firm; and Vicki Dunn, President of Global Environmental, an abatement contractor.

One of the major highlights of the class was the panel discussion near the end of the training session that involved the presenters, in addition to Mitch Barris, who is Senior Vice President at Enterprise Bank. Mitch addressed issues that are important from a lending and investment perspective.

Moderated by David Dodson, Deputy Director of RHCDA, the panel generated a wealth of questions from the audience, which served as both informative and practical for the community development professionals to use in carrying out their organizations' missions. One of the major goals of the class was to help the attendees establish a framework for making strategic decisions regarding the environmental issues that may arise and adversely impact their housing and neighborhood activities and the associated development costs.