The City of New Westminster has welcomed a new director to one of the top spots at city hall.
Emilie Adin recently took on the role as the city’s new director of development services. Adin served as the City of North Vancouver’s director of community services from August 2017 to July 2018, after working as that city's deputy director of community development for more than five years and as city planner for nearly three years.
“Emilie is a great addition to the development services team – she has an engaging and collaborative leadership style,” Lisa Spitale, the city’s chief administrative officer,” said in an email to the Record. “She’s a very seasoned and progressive municipal planner and has considerable experience, not only in planning, but in building inspections and bylaw enforcement. From a process perspective, Emilie has direct experience with streamlining municipal processes and implementing customer-service initiatives.”
Adin has also been an instructor at Royal Roads University, where she taught courses such as planning in communities for a low-carbon economy, land-use and environmental planning, and sustainability and building complete communities.
According to Spitale, Adin has experience in some areas deemed to be priorities in New Westminster, including: waterfront revitalization (from the work the City of North Vancouver has been doing with the Shipyards and Lonsdale Quay); progressive and innovative work on housing (coach houses, sensitive infill, etc.); sustainability (having worked on district energy systems in North Vancouver); and First Nations relations.
“We are excited to have Emilie join the team in New Westminster,” said Mayor Jonathan Cote. “She comes from the City of North Vancouver, which is a very similar community facing a lot of similar issues. We thought she had an excellent background and would be a good addition to the city, and also be able to bring in some fresh perspective into the city. We were really impressed with her background and are looking forward to working with her.”
