URSP alumnus Sarah Franklin has been named the “New Planner of the Year” by the Maryland Chapter of the American Planning Association. Sarah, who earned her Master of Community Planning degree in 2006, received the 2007 award on the basis of her high quality work at Jakubiak & Associaties, a town planning and economic consulting firm based in Annapolis, MD. The nomination letter for the award enumerates a wide range of Sarah’s accomplishments since beginning her employment with the firm, including the following.

• Serving as Main Street Manager for the Town of Mount Airy during a critical time of transition and change in its downtown.

• Shepherding the Chesapeake Railway Trail from concept to implementation, working closely with the Maryland Critical Area Commission staff.

• After considerable research and testing, structuring the fiscal impact analysis model for the City of Salisbury, which is the official tool for assessing the impact of annexation on the City’s cost of service and revenues.

• Guiding the firm’s advanced digital mapping for the Town of Emmitsburg in Frederick County, as well as preparing the town’s water resource element.

• For the Town of Princess Anne in Somerset County, introducing and advancing the concept and strategies for mixed use gateway and infrastructure development as an organizing framework for linking the town’s historic core, the campus of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and the residential development on the opposite side of U.S. Route 13.

• For the Town of Smithsburg in Washington County, advancing and building consensus around the idea of a greenbelt with an overriding concern for viewshed protection.

• For the Town of Queenstown, in Queen Anne’s County, conducting extensive research and mapping to demonstrate (1) that with respect to stream water quality, even no-development scenarios will negatively impact Bay water quality and (2) how future development should in targeted ways restore the riparian environment destroyed by historically intensive agricultural practices.

The nomination letter for Sarah concluded: “In nearly one year since graduating from Maryland, she has proven to be a gifted young planning professional with unlimited potential in this field.”