PlaceWorks

PlaceWorks’ Dwayne Mears and Mariana Zimmermann presented at the Coalition for Adequate School Housing (C.A.S.H.) School Facilities Leadership Academy (SFLA) last week. Their interactive session provided an overview of CEQA, Title 5, and DTSC processes and requirements, and sparked strong engagement from attendees.

The SFLA is an immersive program designed to educate and develop future leaders in school facilities planning. We're proud to say that our team includes several graduates of the program, and we're excited to continue supporting the Academy and its mission.

This month we are excited to welcome a few new members of the PlaceWorks family!

Ellie Porciuncula, Planner, joins our environmental team in Berkeley and will provide support on a variety of project- and program-level CEQA documents. Prior to joining PlaceWorks, Ellie worked for the Bay Area Air District where she provided support for the Bay Area Regional Climate Action Plan.

Elliette Olson, Planner, joins our environmental team in Orange County and will assist in the preparation and processing of environmental documents. In her previous role, Elliette prepared comprehensive environmental reports utilizing data collected from fieldwork and site inspections.

Elizabeth Ignacio, Designer, joins us full-time after participating in the Environmental, Engineering, and Planning Internship Charette (EEPIC) Program with us last summer. Elizabeth has prepared graphics, site plans, renderings, and construction drawings in support of numerous PlaceWorks projects.

Nick Reynoso, Associate, brings extensive experience in the field of environmental science. Nick will be responsible for preparing noise impact analyses, noise monitoring, and supporting air quality, GHG emissions, and energy for CEQA documents and standalone technical studies.

PlaceWorks recently joined California State Parks for a site visit at Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park as part of Reimagine Bidwell Mansion SHP, a planning process to help determine the future of the site following the December 2024 fire while honoring the park’s extensive and layered histories.

The site visit helped ground the early stages of the planning process before the first round of broader community engagement. Since then, the online survey has closed with more than 1,000 responses, and California State Parks and PlaceWorks conducted a virtual community workshop where participants shared their hopes for future generations, questions about treatment options for the fire-damaged structure, and ideas for interpretation, programming, community use, and the park’s long-term role in Chico’s civic life.

Next, the project team will synthesize community input, technical information, and stakeholder perspectives into potential alternatives for public review this summer. We’re grateful to everyone who has taken the time to participate and help shape the next chapter of this deeply meaningful place.

You can visit the project website to learn more: https://www.myinput.com/reimaginebidwellmansion

PlaceWorks was glad to attend California Trails & Greenways 2026 in San Ramon, an important statewide gathering for people working to advance parks, trails, open space, access, and outdoor recreation across California. The event provided a valuable opportunity to connect with clients, partners, advocates, and practitioners working on parks and open space planning and design throughout the state. Together with California State Parks and the California Natural Resources Agency, we led three sessions focused on the California Trails Survey, a statewide engagement effort that will inform future grant funding from the Prop 4 Climate Bond as well as an update to the California Recreational Trails Plan. These conversations shared preliminary survey results, highlighted the importance of hearing from a broader range of Californians, and invited trail advocates and partners to help expand participation before the survey closes on June 8.

Help shape the future of trails and outdoor spaces in California by completing the survey at CaliforniaTrailsSurvey.com.

PlaceWorks recently joined Tahoe Truckee Unified School District and California State Parks for a project kick-off and site visit for the TAHOE Lab and Outdoor School Vision Plan. The project will explore how the former Rideout facility can become an innovative and standard-setting hub for hands-on outdoor learning rooted in the ecology and culture of the Tahoe Basin.

With nearby access to Ward Creek State Park Property, Tahoe National Forest, and Lake Tahoe, the site has exciting potential to support overnight outdoor science school programs, day-use learning, educator training, citizen science, and partner-led programming. The kick-off and site visit were an important first step in grounding the visioning process in the real conditions, opportunities, and needs of the site. We’re excited to help develop a shared framework for program goals, facility needs, partnerships, funding strategies, and phased implementation priorities.

We look forward to supporting this collaborative effort to expand access to meaningful outdoor education experiences for students in the Tahoe region and beyond.

Last week we attended the 2026 AEP California State Conference in sunny San Diego. Several PlaceWorks staff were on hand and participated in a variety of engaging sessions. It was a jam-packed four days – from staffing our booth and networking with peers, to joining mobile workshops and receiving an award. As always, our team thoroughly enjoyed their time at the conference. A big thank you is in order to AEP California for putting together such a great event.



California Association of Environmental Professionals

Scenes from a recent site visit. We always appreciate the opportunity to step out of the office, connect with prospective clients, and spend some time in nature.

We're looking forward to seeing our friends and colleagues at the 2026 California Association of Environmental Professionals Conference in San Diego later this week! Be sure to stop by our booth to pick up a copy of the ✨NEWLY✨ updated "A Practical Guide to CEQA" and join us at the following sessions and events: https://placeworks.com/news/join-us-at-the-2026-aep-conference/

It was great to be part of the California Park & Recreation Society’s CONNECTIONS 2026 Conference & Expo in Long Beach earlier this month. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth to learn more about our parks and open space practice!

PlaceWorks recently joined California State Parks staff for a site visit to Delta Meadows and the Locke Boarding House and hosted an in-person community workshop as part of the park classification and general plan process. We heard thoughtful feedback from neighbors and community members about their vision for the park and their ideas for future improvements, which will help shape the planning process moving forward.

Delta Meadows and the Locke Boarding House are especially meaningful places because they bring together layered natural and cultural histories. Delta Meadows offers a rare glimpse of a Delta landscape that still reflects how this region functioned before widespread reclamation transformed so much of the surrounding area into agricultural land, while the Locke Boarding House sits within the Locke Historic District, a National Historic Landmark recognized as the most intact surviving rural Chinese American community in the United States. The area is also part of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta National Heritage Area.