SENIOR ENERGY & INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNER

Summary:

Boston Planning & Development Agency

BOSTON RESIDENCY IS A CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT

TITLE: SENIOR ENERGY & INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNER

STATUS: EXEMPT GRADE: K

DEPARTMENT/DIVISION: CLIMATE CHANGE & ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING/TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING

OVERVIEW

The Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) is the planning and economic development agency for the City of Boston. The BPDA plays a far-reaching role in shaping the City. We are a self-sustaining agency and our love for Boston inspires us to make our City an even better place to live, work, and connect. The Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) is committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff with diverse experiences while continuing to work to build and sustain an equitable and inclusive work environment, where cultural diversity is celebrated and valued. We believe every member on our team enriches our agency and allows us to see a broad range of ways to understand and engage with our city, identify challenges, and discover, design, and deliver solutions.

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges and opportunities to face the City of Boston. Climate Change & Environmental Planning staff play an integral role in supporting the City's climate change and sustainable building and infrastructure priorities. Many of these objectives follow from Climate Ready Boston and the Smart Utilities Program to protect neighborhoods from the impacts of climate change including heat island, extreme precipitation and sea level rise through a system of elevated and accessible waterfront open spaces and infrastructure, as well as the City's Climate Action Plan and Carbon Neutral 2050 objectives. Staff are directly involved with: waterfront and port planning projects related to the state's Public Tidelands Act M.G.L Chapter 91; promoting sustainable and resilient buildings through Zoning Article 37, Article 25A, Smart Utilities and the Article 80 development project review process; and, developing climate preparedness and carbon neutral policies. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of climate preparedness and building sustainability, our staff of planning and design professionals collaborate closely with the BPDA's Transportation and Infrastructure Planning staff, as well as our partners in City and State departments and agencies. We also partner with community organizations and stakeholders to build consensus around policy, planning, and design.

SUMMARY OF RESPONSIBILITIES:

Under the direction of the Deputy Director for Climate Change and Environmental Planning, oversee all of the Agency's Smart Utilities and Community Energy Planning programs.

GENERAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The general duties and responsibilities of the position are included in but not limited to the information listed below.

Smart Utilities - Article 80 Development Review:

Attend Article 80 Review meetings and provide comments for the Article 80 review letters and documents.

Support BPDA planning initiatives including development of planning scopes and community engagement to support climate change and resilience policies.

Catalog and analyze submitted data by project proponents through the Smart Utilities Checklist, communicating any outstanding issues and collaborating with other BPDA departments and various city agencies.

Update the Smart Utilities checklist based on changes to the Smart Utilities Policy and/or feedback from the Smart Utilities Steering Committee, and other stakeholders.

Lead the integration of the Smart Utilities review process with Salesforce, in coordination with the Development Review team.

Continue the communication and updates to the Smart Utilities Checklist from project proponents after Board Approval.

Coordinate and facilitate internal/external educational and engagement sessions with other BPDA departments, city agencies, developers, permitting consultants, engineers, architects and other pertinent stakeholders.

Coordinate the iterative and collaborative review of the District Energy Microgrid Feasibility Assessments and Master Plans, including managing relationships and coordinating procurement with microgrid subject-matter experts and facilitating ongoing project meetings to ensure success of the assessment and master plan.

Manage and further develop the on-going work on Microgrid-Ready Building Design Guidelines.

Community Energy Planning Projects:

Support and develop Imagine Boston 2030 community energy goals.

Manage the Mattapan Energy Resilience program, a collaboration between the Boston Public Health Commissions (BPHC), Office of Emergency Management (OEM), Environment Department, and BPDA to find energy resilience for the BPHC Mattapan Campus.

Collaborate with the BPDA Real Estate team to explore district energy microgrid, renewable energy generation and geothermal opportunities at the Raymond Flynn Marine Park (RLFMP) District Energy Microgrid, as a follow-up to the Microgrid Feasibility Assessment for the RLFMP completed in Dec 2020.

Support community energy programs and participate in policy development for community district energy and microgrid solutions in collaboration with the Environment Department and relevant programs.

Assess and re-visit on an on-going basis the Smart Utilities District Energy Microgrid program, RLFMP Feasibility Assessment, and BPHC Mattapan Campus to identify opportunities to apply the lessons learned of community district energy and microgrid equitably across the City of Boston.

Collaborate with the Environment Department on the development of the Eversource and/or National Grid geomicrodistrict pilot programs approved by the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) by providing planning resources (i.e., GIS analysis, mapping, neighborhood planning know-how).

Collaborate with the Environment Department on the development of battery energy storage policy and programs and with Boston Transportation Department on Electric Vehicle harger policy and programs.

Inter-Agency Coordination:

Act as BPDA liaison with various utility companies for matters related to the Smart Utilities program.

Convene the inter-departmental Smart Utilities Steering C

Provide updates of the Smart Utilities review to ensure alignment in multi-agency review.

Promote work in other agencies to support the Smart Utilities P

Coordinate two-year reviews of the Smart Utilities Program, and any other interim audits/updates needed.

Manage updates of the Smart Utility Standards.

Convene meetings with project proponents and other agencies as needed.

Coordinate multi-agency climate, energy, and resilience collaboration, including with the Interagency Green Building Committee (IGBC), Climate Ready Boston, and the Environment Department.

Perform administrative and logistic tasks to support the IGBC.

Convene the internal Energy Resilience working group, including OME, Environment Department, BPDA, and other relevant agencies.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Work requires a Master's Degree in Urban Planning and/or Urban Policy with a focus on environmental sustainability and resilience, or a Master's Degree in Public Policy with a focus on energy and/or environmental policy, or a Master's Degree in Civil Engineering with a focus on sustainability and resilience, or equivalent.

Work requires 3 to 5 years of related work experience in urban planning, energy policy, environmental policy, civil engineering, or equivalent.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

Must have knowledge of energy planning, policies and/or

Excellent oral and written communication skills.

Ability to exercise independent initiative as well as work well in a team environment.

Familiarity with Federal, State and City agencies involved in infrastructure is required.

Proficient in Microsoft Office or similar tools required.

Experience or strong familiarity with building energy modeling and building sustainability design (i.e., passive house certifications, LEED Certification) a key plus

Experience or strong familiarity with electric distribution and transmission infrastructure topics and policy a key plus (i.e., substations, EV chargers, battery storage).

Familiarity with Geographic Informational Systems (GIS) a plus

Familiarity with Adobe Create Suite a plus

Familiarity with Salesforce a plus.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

Office Environment, with very occasional site visits and very occasional evening meetings.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

Little or no exertion; very occasional local travel.

BOSTON RESIDENCY IS A CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT