Carolyn Fath
Heather Stouder: “I think planning does play a role in social equity and racial justice.”
Madison’s new Planning Division director, Heather Stouder, is already getting rave reviews.
“Positive to the extreme,” and “jubilation” is how Common Council president Mike Verveer feels about her appointment, which was confirmed by the council on July 19.
“Heather will be an excellent director for the Planning Division,” agrees Ald. Marsha Rummel. “She is well known by residents in my district, and I believe most people who know her are thrilled by her appointment.”
Rummel adds that Stouder “got a round of applause when I introduced her as the new director at a recent neighborhood meeting.”
The Planning Division, where Stouder has worked since 2008, is part of the Department of Planning and Community and Economic Development. Recent leaders of each were blamed for poor staff morale and internal strife. By contrast, Natalie Erdman was acclaimed when she was confirmed as department director a year ago. Reporting to Erdman, Stouder will now manage a staff of about 25.
The job is a huge step up for Stouder, who has never managed professional staff.
“I’ve supervised a lot of volunteers, but this will be really a good learning experience,” Stouder says. “We obviously have a fantastic professional staff. They’re really going to be driving the vision.”
Stouder says that the planning process can be transformative.
“We’re a very attractive city,” she says. “But Madison doesn’t work well for everyone. There’s a major racial equity issue that I think has really come to the forefront of a lot of minds in the city.”
She believes an effective planning process can address the city’s social and economic inequities.
“In a lot of ways [the future] is about trying to make sure we’re providing choices and opportunities for people from all sorts of different backgrounds. We’re limited in the way we can do that,” Stouder says. “We can’t dictate the market, but we can fill in the gaps and help decision makers to invest where maybe the market isn’t investing. So I think planning does play a role in social equity and racial justice.”
Stouder grew up in the Indianapolis area, where she attended Butler University and in 1998 graduated with a biology degree. After that she served in AmeriCorps in Portland, Ore. It was a formative experience.
“I learned a lot about myself and a lot of other issues that I hadn’t really even touched on in high school and college,” Stouder recalls. She was starting to think of how to address urban environmental and social-behavioral issues.
“I thought, ‘Planning. That might be where it all comes together,’” she says. Stouder enrolled at UW-Madison and in 2004 graduated with master’s degrees in both urban and regional planning and land resources. In 2004 she became a transportation planner with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization.
Stouder returned to Madison in 2006 to work as community planner for MSA Professional Services, a consulting firm. Two years later she was hired by Madison.
Stouder initially worked reviewing developments, where controversies often arise as residents and developers battle over their visions for the city.
Mayor Paul Soglin says Stouder is adept at finding compromise. “She has done an outstanding job of shepherding complex developments through the process,” Soglin says.
She has helped craft a neighborhood plan for the Royster-Clark site and worked on updating the city’s zoning code.
Stouder didn’t immediately apply for the director job. “I had to give it a lot of thought with my wife,” she says.
She says some of the past controversy within the department and division is a “little bit overblown.”
“I think we have a very good, very resilient staff. We by and large love our jobs. I think that we’re very lucky to work here, and I think that’s recognized by a lot of people.”
