Thomas Jacobson, M.S.

Adjunct Faculty
Urban and Regional Studies and Planning

EXPERTISE

• Urban and Rural Planning
• Comprehensive Planning 
• Land Use Planning and Development
• Environmental Planning
• Community Resiliency Against Climate Change

TEACHING

URSP 628 Land Use Planning

Planning Commissioner and Government Officials Planning Certification Program

BIOGRAPHY

Tom Jacobson is the Education Director of the VCU Land Use Education Program since 2019 and an Adjunct Instructor in the VCU Urban and Regional Studies and Planning program since 2003. He teaches the graduate land use planning class and periodically other planning classes, including leading a planning study of London, England, and a joint VCU-RPTU class in Germany. Tom was the director of the Chesterfield County Planning Department for seventeen years and initiated the County’s community revitalization program. He then became the first Revitalization Director in order to improve the County’s poorer and aging communities.

Previous to moving to Virginia, Tom was assistant director of the Sioux Falls Planning and Building Services Department, Assistant Visiting Professor at the University of North Dakota, and the Grand Forks, ND  City Planner. Before returning to work on his master's degree, Tom prepared floodplain analysis and flood hydrographs, designed flood protection channels and floodplain protection measures that significantly aid his teaching of flood resiliency.

Tom has written several articles for Planning, Urban Land, and other publications and has given over 500 presentations on planning, land use development, urban sprawl, suburban design, affordable housing, and income and poverty patterns. He is the recipient of a number of awards including the VCU Wilder School Distinguished Adjunct Award in 2016; the Urban Land Institute Richmond 2015 Member of the Year Award, and the Chesterfield County 1998 Civic Appreciation Award. He has served on many non-profit boards in land use and affordable housing and remains active in civic affairs by serving on the real estate committee of the Better Housing Coalition.

Tom holds a BS in civil engineering and a M.S. in environmental planning from the University of Minnesota and a year towards a PhD in urban planning from the University of North Carolina.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Major Accomplishments as Chesterfield County Director of Revitalization

• Established county’s first revitalization office and first Board of Supervisor’s appointed committee to address community revitalization;
• Led development of strategic action plans for community organizations;
• Led analysis, public discussion, and strategy to purchase and redevelop blighted regional shopping center;
• Recruited quality developer, Crosland, to redevelop Cloverleaf Mall and working through zoning, lease buyout, and tax increment financial incentives. First phase completed:
• Led streetscape design plans within major older commercial corridors.

Major Accomplishments as Chesterfield County Director of Planning

• Established an urban growth boundary through adoption of deferred growth area (green area) on comprehensive plan and supporting utility requirements and capital improvement policies;
• Promoted community revitalization as a major focus of community dominated by growth issues; accomplished numerous small area plans, organized community stakeholder groups, and lead implementation projects in aging areas;
• Created effective, implementation-oriented planning process with initial implementation project adoption concurrent with plan adoption;
• Established a riverfront planning process that has accomplished the adoption of a riverfront plan and associated environmental ordinances, creation of a non-profit riverfront advocacy organization, and acquisition of over 1300 acres of riverfront land for public use;
• Created a suburban design framework resulting in design ordinances, design manuals to accent the unique and historic character of the county’s major activity centers; Numerous national planning articles and presentations resulted from these efforts;

Major Accomplishments as Assistant Director of Sioux Falls, SD Department of Planning and Building Services 

• Directed the preparation of the Sioux Falls Downtown Development Plan and concurrently, managed the public discussion, design, and funding of the reconstruction of the downtown mall and indoor transit station;
• Led the neighborhood revitalization efforts including preparation of neighborhood plans, zoning changes, funding priorities, plan implementation, and program evaluation;
• Initiated and managed the City’s capital improvement program;
• Led the implementation of actions to support the adopted growth boundary including annexation of seven fringe exurban neighborhoods (5200 residents), zoning and subdivision ordinances and policies, and capital improvement project priorities;
• Prepared a detailed analysis of the environmental and health impact of uranium mining. Provided technical assistance to the adjacent counties in the preparation and adoption of mining regulations;
• Prepared the citywide neighborhood revitalization strategy and three neighborhood plans and resulting implementation actions.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

A New Income Growth Pattern in the Richmond Metropolitan Area, VCU Center for Urban and Regional Analysis, June 2018

Suburban affordable housing will strengthen RVA, Richmond Times Dispatch, November 27, 2017

Richmond 300 A Guide for Growth: Land Use, Housing, and Demographic Analysis, VCU Center for Urban and Regional Analysis, September 2017

Understanding the Jobs-Affordable Housing Balance in the Richmond Region, VCU Center for Urban and Regional Analysis, July 2017

2014-15 MetroView Development Tracker, VCU Center for Urban and Regional Analysis, July 2017

The Path Forward, Sustaining Chesterfield County's Older Communities, April 2010

“Using the Burgess Model as a Framework,” Urban Land, May 2001, pp. 44-45

“Patterns of Suburban Development,” Virginia Chapter APA, October 2000

“Suburban Design: One Step at a Time,” Planning, May 1998, pp. 10-12, reprinted in several textbooks

“Chesterfield’s New Zoning Technique, Reshaping Commercial Development,” Virginia Land Use Digest, Winter 1992

“Shaping the Design of Chesterfield County,” Chesterfield County, Virginia, December 1994

“Seven Years of Growth Management in Sioux Falls: A Review,” The Western Planner, May 1986, pp. 10-11

Downtown Development Plan, Sioux Falls, SD 1986

“Sioux Falls Seeks to Solve Stormwater Woes” and “Stormwater Detention Can Backfire,” The Western Planner, December 1983, pp. 6-7

“Sioux Falls Supports Strict Fringe Zoning,” The Western Planner, May 1982, page 1

“Sioux Falls Okays Restrictive Zoning,” Planning, June 1980, pp. 8-9

“How Farmers Home Encourages Urban Sprawl,” Planning, October 1978, pp. 21-23

Beadle Greenway Area Redevelopment Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement, Sioux Falls, SD, June 1978

Whittier Neighborhood Improvement Plan, Sioux Falls, SD, 1977

Rural Development Beckons Urban Sprawl, November 20, 1977, submitted in support of court testimony, Sierra Club vs. Cavanaugh et al. Civil Action 77-4070

Fringe Area Development Study, Grand Forks, ND, 1975

Near Northside Neighborhood Improvement Plan, Grand Forks, ND, 1975

MAJOR PRESENTATIONS AND SPEECHES

“Comprehensive Plan and Implementation”, Norfolk, VA Planning Commission and Staff Training, September 2022 and October 2023

“Promoting Comprehensive Planning and Affordable Housing in Virginia” Engineers & Surveyors Institute, September 2020

“Urban Land Institute Reality Check Implementation” June 2015

“Chesterfield County Housing: Type, Location and Affordability” May 2015

“Results of Urban Land Institute Reality Check”, August 2013

"Aging Commercial Corridor Revitalization Keys Smart Growth," Richmond Smart Growth Forum, October 2009

"Revitalization Leads to Improved Community Health," Virginia Health Conference. September 2009

"Public Redevelopment of Regional Shopping Center Leads Suburban Revitalization," U.S. Board of Realtors Revitalization Conference, Baltimore, MD 2005

“Moving Your Plan to Reality,” APA National Conference April, 2004

“Making Urban Places in Suburbia,” APA National Conference April, 2004

“Good Intentions Are Not Enough: Techniques to Turn Your Plan to Reality,” VAPA and Virginia Citizens Planning Association Joint Conference, April 2003

"Shaping the Development of Fast Growing Communities", Principal Speaker, Buford County, South Carolina Growth Summit, February 2002

“Suburban Retail Design: Beyond the Strip,” ULI Richmond, April 2002

“Shaping the Design of the Suburbs,” Building Virginia 1999 Virginia AIA Conference

"Planning Suburban Development Shape and Character: The Chesterfield County, Virginia Example," Keynote Lecture, Vision St. Tammany (Suburban New Orleans), December 1998

Urban Planning Panel Member, Aurora, CO, Fitzsimmons Medical Base Boundary Redevelopment Study, May 1997

“Reinventing Suburban Planning,” Building Virginia 1997, Virginia AIA Conference

Speaker, “Innovative Growth Management Techniques,” Lincoln Institute Seminar, December 1989

Over 500 presentations to ULI, NACO, APA, planning, government, real estate, and other conferences; local service clubs; and other community organizations.