SNELLVILLE – City officials welcomed new City Planner Genevieve Bigner earlier this month.
Bigner, who graduated with a Bachelor's degree in landscape architecture and a Master's degree in environmental planning and design from the University of Georgia, fills a void in the city's Department and Planning and Development after Jason Thompson was promoted to department director earlier this year.
"We are excited to welcome Genevieve to the City of Snellville team," Thompson said. "Her background will have her well prepared to help forge the city forward in its planning endeavors, more specifically the implementation and construction of the city's Towne Center Masterplan."
The New Orleans native worked with Archway Partnership and the Center for Community Design and Preservation during her time at UGA on various planning and design projects throughout the state. Through these organizations, she said she's had the opportunity to collaborate directly with community members to create spaces and facilitate positive change within their neighborhoods by providing high quality design work produced by faculty, staff and outside professionals.
Bigner's passion for city planning came at UGA during hearings for a proposed Walmart in Athens. She said it was fascinating to hear different points of view and how they could affect the city, positively or negatively.
"After that, I decided to pursue planning for my master's degree so I would have the skill to contribute valuable input at all stages of the design and development process by not only being able to identify issues and areas of potential growth at the larger scale but also provide viable and appropriate solutions at the smaller scale," she said. "I greatly look forward to becoming a part of the City of Snellville and doing my part to help the community grow and evolve in a way that further promotes the city's goals as a whole. In my short time here, I've heard nothing but great things and I'm excited to see everything Snellville has to offer."