Jerry Weitz, FAICP

FAICP Statement

John (better known as “Jerry”) Weitz is a scholar-practitioner. His consulting work in plan implementation has been recognized, and he has influenced land use policy in Georgia and the Atlanta region. He is author of publications advancing the practice of growth management, including the user guide to the Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook. He is editor of AICP’s Practicing Planner (formerly Planners’ Casebook) and helped elevate the stature of Georgia Chapter APA as President. Inducted 2008.

Professional Biography

Jerry Weitz earned his bachelor of science degree from Emory University in 1983 in history and political science and a master of city planning degree from Georgia Tech in 1985 (emphasis in land use and environmental planning) Jerry Weitz has been a practicing planner since 1985 and a member of AICP since 1987. He started professional work in local government in Georgia, for Roswell, Fulton County, Albany-Dougherty County, then the Georgia Mountains Regional Development Center (now Regional Commission). He moved to the Portland, Oregon, region in 1994 and worked part time for the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development and Cowlitz County, Washington, Department of Building and Planning while pursuing his Ph.D. in urban studies at Portland State University. which he completed in December 1998. Weitz relocated back to the Atlanta, Georgia, region in 1999, rejoining a prior employer (City of Roswell). He began his own consulting firm in 2001, Jerry Weitz & Associates, Inc., a job he holds today. Weitz has also kept a foot in the door of the academy, having completed adjunct teaching assignments at Portland State University, Kennesaw State University, and Georgia Tech. He has also held program director positions at Troy University (Atlanta site) in public administration and at East Carolina University in urban and regional planning (tenured associated professor). Weitz was elected to the College of Fellows of AICP in 2008. From 2010 to 2015 Weitz was associate professor and director of the urban and regional planning program at East Carolina University and also held an adjunct appointment in public health at the Brody School of Medicine. Weitz's specialties are growth management and preparing and administering local land use regulations. Weitz is author of several publications including the Book Sprawl Busting: State Programs to Guide Growth (1999), PAS reports on Smart Growth Audits (2002 with Leora Waldner) and Jobs-Housing Balance (2003), and several peer reviewed journal articles on growth management. He also authored the user guide to the APA Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook. His professional work has been recognized with awards. He is author of The Ethical Planning Practitioner (APA Planners Press, 2015) and co-editor (with Edward J. Jepson, Jr.) of the planning textbook, Fundamentals of Plan Making: Methods and Techniques, now in its 2nd edition (2021).

Education

160251 | Georgia Inst of Tech
Graduation Date: June, 1985
Degree Level: Graduate
Planning Degree

090732 | Portland State University
Graduation Date: December, 1998
Degree Level: PhD/J.D.