Planning for Success

Just a year ago, as the economy was showing a major downturn, land planner Allison Megrath tossed the dice for a big gamble on her career. She left her job with WilsonMiller and started Land Planning Solutions Inc. in Naples.

The dice landed right.

Megrath’s years of experience in the business, her work for both government and the private sector, and her drive and attention to detail are all factors in the young firm’s success. She’s already opened a new office in Bonita Springs.

"I’ve always liked working for myself," says Megrath, 37. "It lets me control the projects I’m working on, and it gives me the flexibility for family time" with her two daughters, ages 6 and 7, and her husband, a hydroponic arugula farmer.

Megrath started a planning company in Canada just after graduating from college there with a degree in urban studies. The winters, however, made her look south, and in 1995 she took a planning job with the city of West Palm Beach. That was followed by planning work at private firms and cities, including the town of Concord, N.C.

But her husband is from West Palm Beach, and family connections brought them back to Florida. Megrath worked on several sustainable communities and new towns, and she refined that niche with work on the Ave Maria community near Immokalee.

"These are the kinds of projects that can really make a difference in quality of life," Megrath says. "We need to change the ways we’ve done things and look further into the future on their impacts. With the gas prices now, more and more people realize we need more mixed-use communities and less sprawl. Before, during the boom, people just wanted to build fast. Now more people see that how we build these communities can really have an impact on everything from how much driving we do to having a long-term impact on the climate."

Her major client is Atlantic Blue, which is developing a 65,000-acre "new town" in Highlands County.