Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
Enthusiastic Licensed Landscape Architect turned firm leader and business owner, driven by a passion for creating outdoor environments that balance sustainability with accessibility, recreation with relaxation, and extreme with serene. Best known for the design of award-winning parks, including skate parks and other action sports facilities.
Building upon 20 years of landscape and recreation industry experience, with management-level involvement in over $150 million in park design projects alone, my role within CWDG has recently increased to Principal of the firm. Active project involvement includes: Eastvale Community Park, Phase 2: currently leading a multi-disciplinary design team for the design of a $15 million, 30 acre expansion to an existing 40+ acre sports park for Jurupa Community Services District.
Focusing on my lifelong passion for skate park design and skateboarding in general, I took a year-long hiatus from Community Works Design Group to focus on skate park design by working with California Skateparks as a Project Manager for their Design Division, where I reported directly to the CEO on a daily basis. My responsibilities included leading coordination with design and construction staff of approximately 75 employees including the parent company of California Landscape & Design, and sister companies, Site Design Group and California Ramp Works. During my year-long adventure, I had active roles in several key projects, including: Maloof Cup Plaza at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, New York, NY - coordinated with New York City Department of Parks & Recreation during the NYC Public Design Commission review process for a skate plaza built for a professional skateboarding contest. Due to the park site's poor soil conditions, the skate plaza was designed within the remnants of the Astral Fountain from the 1964 World's Fair, since the fountain was built atop piles extending to bedrock. MTV's Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory - Seasons 3 and 4: processing Film LA permits for the North Hollywood Skate Plaza / 7-Eleven; coordination of testing various design and construction methods for Street League Training Facility at Van Nuys Airport in preparation for the pilot season of the successful skateboarding contest tour. Street League - coordinating with arena staff in Glendale, AZ, Ontario, CA and Las Vegas, NV for the logistics of street-style professional skateboarding competition consisting of poured-in-place concrete features constructed and broken down within a 5 day window. City of Los Angeles, CA - design project management and facilitation of public design process for several skate plazas within existing City parks, including Jackie Tatum Harvard Park, Lincoln Park;irrigation/ planting design and permit processing for Stoner Park.
Upon graduating from Cal Poly Pomona, I searched for a design firm that specialized in Park Planning that included skate park design, and found a long-term home with Community Works Design Group. My journey with CWDG has included a consistent path of increased responsibility, ranging from assisting in CAD drafting to taking the lead of multi-million dollar, multi-disciplinary design projects. I began assisting with Plan Check and Inspection for the City of Highland under contract in 2004, and became the lead contact in 2005 upon achieving licensure as a Landscape Architect. I have served as the City Landscape Architect since 2005. Concurrently, I have managed the Landscape Plan Check contract for Jurupa Community Services District continuously since 2003.
After joining the firm as an intern during his sophomore year in college, I brought computer skills to the firm, and led the modernization to the office from ink-on-mylar drafting to the latest CAD technology. Responsibilities in key projects included the preparation of ideology and visual concepts for the Interstate 215 Aesthetic Master Plan for Caltrans and the City of San Bernardino; preparation of photo-simulation renderings for options of the enhancement of the historic California Theater; exhibits for the Vision 2020/ Lakes and Streams plan for the City of San Bernardino; irrigation and landscape design for various Stater Bros. Markets; landscape design for model homes and streetscapes for various housing developers.