With much of my focus on the private sector components of the real estate industry, I wanted to gain knowledge of the public side that drives real estate decisions.  Working in Ocean City, NJ’s planning office not only exposed me to the workings of public policy, but also gave me the opportunity to view a city through an entirely different lens.  Ocean City, NJ—America’s Greatest Family Resort—exemplifies a classic Jersey Shore community.  During the early 2000s, this seaside resort saw a great influx of residential developments, but as investments slowed over the last years, the challenge for the City has been to plan for the next wave of development.

As a planning intern, I divided my summers among projects that used my finance and real estate background in the context of planning.  I evaluated city owned sites and studied the feasibility of different development alternatives that took into account zoning code, the city’s master plan, and even affordable housing programs.  During the last boom, the focus of investment was in residential developments, so I worked on incentivizing investment in the city’s commercial districts through writing a tax code to promote rehabilitations, researching and presenting on the current conditions, and rezoning areas to better support development.  I also spent time writing and designing a more user-friendly Historic District Guidelines to provide residents a helpful reference for appropriate redevelopment.  By working for the city, I was able to see firsthand the important relationship among policy, the general public, and development.