Chad Williams, Master Planner in the Countywide Planning Division of the Prince George’s Planning Department, has worked with the Planning Department for 16 years and is part of the Zoning Rewrite team. As a land-use planning and urban designer, Williams hopes the rewrite will bring easy-to-understand use tables to the County.
Q: If you could develop one project in Prince George’s County, what would it be?
FBI Headquarters
Q: What impact do you believe the Prince George’s County Zoning Rewrite will have on the County in general?
It will have a positive impact by attracting new developers and investors and provide more opportunities to keep people informed.
Q: Which project have you worked on that you are most proud of?
The Central US 1 Corridor Sector Plan/SMA. The Zoning Rewrite when it becomes effective.
Q: What are your favorites books about land-use, planning, zoning, architecture?
Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day is a surprisingly effective early work pertaining to land uses and relationships to the environment and transportation.
Q: If you had one superhero power, what would it be and why?
Batman’s ability to plan for every eventuality. If one could literally be prepared for anything, it would seem to offer a lot of advantages in life.
Q: When did you have your Aha! moment, where you knew you wanted to work in land use?
When I realized how much more education and cost it would take to become an architect instead.
Q: Who would you like to swap places with for one day?
Jeff Bezos. I could do a lot with $110 billion.
Q: What is one skill that you need to possess in your current role?
Flexibility and trust
Q: What’s the coolest thing you’re working on right now?
Planning for my trip to Disney World (you didn’t say it had to be a work-related topic).
Q: What’s the biggest misconception when it comes to adding bike lanes?
That bicyclists have no rights. That, or “it’s too expensive.”
Q: What’s one-way people should be involved at a local level to make their communities and built environment healthier?
Participate. It all starts with participation.
Q: If there was one thing you could improve in Prince George’s County, what would it be?
The misplaced perception of crime in the County.
