Attorney Linda Whitehead to Speak at Annual Westchester Municipal Planning Federation's Institute

March 9, 2012 - PRLog -- CONTACT:  Geoff Thompson
Thompson & Bender
(914) 762-1900 ext. 12
Geoff@Thompson-Bender.com

WHITE PLAINS, NY (March 8, 2012) – Linda B. Whitehead, a partner in the White Plains-based law firm McCullough, Goldberger & Staudt, LLP, the co-organizer of the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation’s 34th Annual Land Use Training Institute to be held at the Pace Graduate Center and at Pace Law School in White Plains beginning March 12, will also speak on the topic of ethics for local planning and zoning board members.

The three-evening event is geared to providing education as well as credits for local planning and zoning officials and helps fulfill their annual state mandated requirement for training. In addition to Monday’s opening session at the Pace Graduate Center, additional sessions will be held at the Pace Graduate Center on Thursday March 15 and at Pace Law School on Thursday March 22 beginning at 6 p.m. with registration and networking and ending at 9:30.

Each session is focused on relevant topics for members of planning, zoning, conservation and design review boards. On March 12 and March 15, concurrent breakout sessions will address planning and zoning board operations, SEQR, zoning codes, new planning strategies, and flood mitigation. On March 22, presentations will be made on recent land use law cases, FOIL (Freedom of Information law) practices and ethics.

For the last six years the Annual Land Use Training Institute has been organized by Ms. Whitehead, a Director at Large with the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation, and the organization’s Recording Secretary, Christian Miller, who is the City Planner with the City of Rye.

“This year’s Training Institute offers a wide array of topical programs that will help planning and zoning officials in their review of projects before them,” Ms. Whitehead said. “The programs will include everything from a talk on whether New York State “master builder” Robert Moses was a visionary or a villain by Dr. Floyd Lapp, Executive Director, South Western Regional Planning Agency in Connecticut, to my presentation on the topical issue of ethics and when a planning and zoning official should recuse himself or herself from deliberations on a particular project. The conference is geared to providing information to allow our attendees to make sound, intelligent decisions in their capacity as members of local land use boards.”

The Westchester Municipal Planning Federation is a voluntary association of officials representing the county’s 45 municipal governments, zoning and planning boards and land use consultants including lawyers, engineers, architects and planners.  Authorized under New York’s State General Municipal Law in 1962, and governed by a 15-member Board of Directors, the organization’s purpose is to “create an effective and permanent countywide organization for the exchange of information on matters of planning interest.”

Ms. Whitehead practices in the areas of municipal law, land use and environmental law, as well as commercial and residential real estate transactions. She is a member of the Westchester County Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation, she is currently the president of the American Cancer Society Westchester Region Board of Advisors and of the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Club of Westchester County.

McCullough, Goldberger & Staudt, LLP was established in 1984 by the merger of Taylor, McCullough & Geoghegan with Fredericks, Goldberger & Liberman, two firms with long, successful histories in Westchester County. The firm’s strong zoning, real estate, municipal and banking background combined with its litigation experience have resulted in a diversified firm with the depth and range to fully service client matters—from inception, through negotiations and to conclusion, including litigation when necessary.