One of the City and Borough of Juneau’s senior planners has been promoted to lead the Community Development Department.
The 21-employee department includes city planners, code enforcement officers, building inspectors and staff support for the planning commission.
Jill Maclean was hired at the department in 2015 after 16 years working as a planner in her home state of Massachusetts.
As director, she said one of her main goals is to make sure Juneau’s land use code reflects the facts on the ground. That means taking into account Southeast Alaska’s geography and the capital city’s historical layout.
“I know we have a tendency to borrow code from other places and that’s great – why reinvent the wheel when you don’t need to?” Maclean said Tuesday. “But I think when we do that we need to be very careful and thoughtful that it still fits Juneau.”
Maclean replaces Rob Steedle who retired last month after working for the city since the 1990s. Her starting salary is $104,956.
