Waynesboro says goodbye to city planner Luke Juday

WAYNESBORO — After five years working for Waynesboro, city planner Luke Juday says goodbye to his position come July.

Starting in 2017, Juday took over the position from Michael Barnes, who had served in the role since 2009.

As for his next move, he's not too sure yet. He said he will be taking the next few months off to travel.

"I’ll be spending three months based out of Vienna, Austria, where I hope to learn more about European land use law and how to make cities less car dependent," he said. "I should be back in the area around December, but I am still thinking through what the best position is for me going forward."

He said leaving at this time felt like a good stopping point.

"Many of the projects I’ve been involved with are already in motion, while the problems I’m most passionate about right now aren’t as relevant to Waynesboro," he said. "The timing felt right. The city will be going into another comprehensive planning cycle soon, which is a great opportunity for a new person to come in and establish a vision."

Calling the area between Harrisonburg and Charlottesville home for the last 11 years, Juday previously worked as a middle school teacher, a transportation planner and a demographer consulting with planning departments.

He served on the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission as a transportation planner and was previously a research analyst at the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.

Graduating from University of Virginia with a master of urban and environmental planning degree, Juday also studied at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, receiving a bachelor of arts in political science, and completed a Fulbright Scholarship in Gaborone, Botswana.

For the last four years, he's taught land use and urban growth as an adjunct professor for the UVA's master's in planning program.

In 2018, Juday was selected as one of The News Leader's Newsmakers, which profiles influential and impactful people in our community.

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As a planner, he credits the accomplishments made as the entire team of public servants and the entire community he's worked with — it's not just him.

"There are a lot of pieces to that role, but I would point to two big goals from one of my first performance reviews: 'articulate a clear, compelling, and achievable vision for the community' and 'run a smooth and effective development review process,'" he said. "My greatest accomplishment, I hope, is that I was a good teammate and performed my role well."

When Juday arrived in Waynesboro, the city was reinventing itself. He's seen the city grow with new developments like with Waynesboro Marketplace, growth at Waynesboro Town Center and Amazon locating a distribution center in the old Kmart building. There are also new projects in the works like the new city park, Sunset Park, more Greenway development and downtown revival, like with the demolition of the old Leggett building and new retailers taking up empty storefronts.

"The ultimate goal was to ensure that a new generation of people would find it worthwhile to live, work and invest their lives in the city," he said. "Today, I think the city is in the strongest position it has been in years. People want to move here, want to start businesses here, and are excited about where the city is headed. We have a great vision that people can get excited about, but we need to continue pressing it forward."

Moving forward, Juday said he hopes the city will find ways to accommodate growth and maintain its affordability so people aren't pushed out.

"There is already a healthy discussion starting about affordable housing and homelessness," he said. "More growth also means more demand for city services, which will require the organization to adapt and innovate."

Transportation is a big issue for Waynesboro, he said. The Afton Express, which connects Staunton, Fishersville and Waynesboro to Charlottesville is a great addition, but could go even further if it was brought to downtown Waynesboro.

"Bringing it into downtown and providing people with a single seat connection to Staunton and Charlottesville would open up more job opportunities for residents and help us reduce traffic congestion," he said.

Juday said he'll miss the overall working environment at the City of Waynesboro.

"It’s an organizational culture that emphasizes hiring for potential over achievements, developing promising employees, and promoting from within," he said. "That’s possible because of the number of experienced professionals who are able to pull up the people around them."

He encourages people to value their community and open their minds to what is possible for Waynesboro.

"Waynesboro isn’t just a cluster of houses managed by a utility company that keeps your toilets flushing. Don’t treat it that way," he said. "It’s a growing, active community where 22,000 people are working, studying, playing, raising families, enjoying one another’s company and building something bigger than the sum of their individual lives. It has a rich history and it could have a great future too."

Laura Peters is the trending topics reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip on local trends or businesses? Or a good feature? You can reach reporter Laura Peters (she/her) at lpeters@newsleader.com. Follow her @peterslaura. Subscribe to The News Leader at newsleader.com.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Waynesboro says goodbye to city planner Luke Juday