In more ways than one, newly hired Langley City Planner Brigid Reynolds is entering her position at an unusually busy time.

With work still to be done on the city’s comprehensive plan update, including the implementation of the urban growth area reduction, and a number of development activities that require a permanent planner, Reynolds is hitting the ground running.

She officially joined the city March 29.

“My role is really facilitating broader community vision and balancing the right choices that are out there,” Reynolds said. “There’s a vision that’s already identified in the comprehensive plan and it’s moving forward.”

“The timing is what it is and you try to work with it, but I think it is a good time to come in at this point,” she added.

Reynolds has 20 years of experience as a planner, having most recently served the Municipality of North Cowichan on Vancouver Island’s east coast since 2006. She was responsible for long-range planning policy and processes, housing affordability issues and applications. She specialized in energy conservation and sustainability, having developed a program called “Better Off North Cowichan” which promoted home energy conservation, emission reduction policy preparation and the application of “green” elements into the zoning bylaw.

Reynolds will be responsible for guiding the city’s comprehensive plan update to its final stage this spring, reviewing land use/development applications, revising city code, advising the city’s planning board, arts commission, design review board and parks and open space commission. She will also work to balance the desire for growth with the desire for maintaining the city’s rural character.

Her salary is $73,000.

Reynolds’ experience working on coastal cities and their similarities to Langley’s critical areas,  including bluffs and wetlands, are among the positives of the newly hired planner, Langley Mayor Tim Callison said.

“The kind of development activity, they’re very similar,” Callison said. “She seems to be fitting in quite well.”

Though she was admittedly shy in an interview with a Record reporter, Reynolds has been anything but in her first week. Callison said she was actively involved in a recent planning meeting that continued the discussion for the comprehensive plan update, while she’s also prepared the city for an upcoming land use examination for upper Langley. She’s also focused on becoming acquainted with the city, its community and immediate issues.

Reynolds was also given a tour around the city Wednesday morning by Planning Advisory Board Member Christy Korrow and Jim Sundberg, a former city councilman.

The trio looked at developments that have taken place and others that have been in the works but haven’t moved forward. They also scoped out the parcels included in the urban growth area. Among the destinations were the fairgrounds, Sandy Point and Edgecliff. She said the city center is also on her list of things to check out. She’s also becoming familiar with the infrastructure of the city, such as where the sewer and water lines run through, to have a better understanding of the community.

“It’s a steep learning curve for sure,” Reynolds said. “I’m coming from British Columbia so there’s other things I need to learn.”

Callison said Sundberg wasn’t serving in an official capacity for the city, but that he was simply a “highly knowledgeable person welcoming her.” Callison considers Sundberg as one of his trusted advisors.

Reynolds said her approach to small city planning includes thoughtfulness, such as ascertaining a clear understanding of the background of a particular topic, what the issues are, how it fits with the city’s comprehensive plan and community vision, while also involving the public in the process. She added that maintaining lines of communication with the various committees and councils in the city will be of importance.

“While it’s a small community, the issues are still the same whether you’re in a large community or small community,” Reynolds said.

Among her list of projects to tackle early on is increasing readership on DesignLangley.org, a department website/blog created by a former planner — Jeff Arango — to better connect the public with city planning. She likes the concept and is eager to put it to good use.

Reynolds is the fifth city planner in less than a decade. She replaces Michael Davolio, who resigned under pressure from City Hall in December 2015. Asked whether the past turnover presents an added challenge, Reynolds said some things are out of her control.

“I don’t know what all the circumstances were and so it’s kind of hard to comment on it,” Reynolds said. “My intention is certainly to work hard at it and be here for the longer term. There were a lot of mitigating circumstances in each case. It’s a challenge for me in a number of ways given that I’m coming from British Columbia. My intention is certainly to work hard and be here for the long haul.”