Falls Church City Manager Wyatt Shields announced this week that long-time City Planning Director Jim Snyder will be retiring this coming January. Snyder has been with the City since 2011 and has played a seminal role in the surge of new commercial and mixed use development that has enriched the City over the last dozen-plus years.
Snyder’s decision will further deplete the City’s talent pool at its higher administrative levels. Earlier this month, the Director of Planning Paul Stoddard announced he will be taking a job with the City of Alexandria and earlier this year Falls Church’s Director of Public Works Zak Bradley left for a position as the public works chief operating engineer in Arlington County.
The “brain drain” among three leaders at City Hall who played instrumental roles in the last decade’s extraordinary developments in the City has left some at City Hall concerned, the News-Press has learned. The talents of the three leaders applied to the major challenges in Falls Church in the recent past has, among other things, clearly increased their value beyond what the Little City may have been able to offer in terms of compensation.
Also, the administrative change at City Hall resulting in the elevation of two new persons to positions as deputy city managers and thereby distancing Shields from direct contact with the planning and public works departments may have been a factor, according to News-Press sources.
In another Planning-related development, Rob Puentes, chair of the City’s citizen-led Planning Commission announced that he is leaving that seven-person volunteer body that plays a critical role in helping provide advice and consent and overseeing development in the City in January.
Shields announced the Snyder move at Monday’s weekly Employee Town Hall at City Hall. In his statement, Shields said,
“Jim Snyder has informed me and the Community Planning and Economic Development Services team of his intention to retire in January in the coming year. This is a big decision as Jim has made such a positive impact on all of us here in the City.
“Jim joined the City in 2011 as we were recovering from the great recession. He came with 33 years of experience with Arlington County where he played a central role in planning the Roslyn Ballston Corridor, and immediately understood and connected with the planning and economic development needs of the City. I can recall that one of his first projects was to redecorate and upgrade the Planning and Building Safety offices in the ‘old City Hall’ to make it a more professional working environment for the team. He worked with the team to develop the ‘Plan for Planning’ and we are all proud that the eighth or eight Small Area Plans was adopted last year (the East End Area Plan).
“In 2019, we reorganized the department, to combine Economic Development with Planning, Building Safety and Zoning into the Community Planning and Economic Development Services (CPEDS), which has worked with City Council, the Economic Development Authority (EDA), the Department of Public Works and all City departments to help recruit and oversee the redevelopment of key sites in the City.
“Jim helped facilitate the smaller infill redevelopments – like the outdoor dining at Dogwood, and Northside Social, and medical offices across the City.
“Jim has represented us well as Chair of the D.C. Area Council of Governments (COG) Planning Directors group, as a founding member of the Northern Virginia Economic Development Association, and through his work with the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech schools of urban planning and architecture. He has provided tremendous support for the City Council, EDA, and the Planning Commission over his years with the City.
“What Jim always focuses on and enjoys the most is recruiting and promoting our great CPEDS staff. He has been a tremendous leader and mentor for so many in the City.
“We know that with Paul Stoddard’s leaving and Jim’s latest announcement, that our great staff of CPEDS will be called upon to meet new challenges and opportunities.”
