
Seth Otto, AICP, LEED AP
Principal Planner
he/him
Seth is a principal planner with a passion for community development, urban revitalization, and environmental conservation. His work focuses on land use planning, brownfield redevelopment, public policy, and sustainability. He has nearly 20 years of experience and currently leads MFA’s planning team. He is recognized as a strong and effective project and team manager with…
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I was drawn to Urban planning for the chance to play a meaningful role in helping communities achieve their maximum potential. I have always seen brownfield projects as a way to achieve multiple objectives: increase urban density through infill, avoid sprawl, create opportunities for community development, and remediate environmental damages.
Services
I was drawn to Urban planning for the chance to play a meaningful role in helping communities achieve their maximum potential. I have always seen brownfield projects as a way to achieve multiple objectives: increase urban density through infill, avoid sprawl, create opportunities for community development, and remediate environmental damages.
Full Bio
Who is Seth Otto, AICP, LEED AP?
Seth is a principal planner with a passion for community development, urban revitalization, and environmental conservation. His work focuses on land use planning, brownfield redevelopment, public policy, and sustainability. He has nearly 20 years of experience and currently leads MFA’s planning team. He is recognized as a strong and effective project and team manager with expertise in collaboration with diverse multidisciplinary teams. Seth manages large and complex projects in which his attention to detail, familiarity with reporting and administrative requirements, communication skills, and collaborative approach are valuable assets to clients.
Seth is engaged in redevelopment planning for brownfield and underutilized properties around the Pacific Northwest for both public and private clients. He regularly supports project funding strategies and has written successful grant applications to state and federal agencies. He has managed several policy research studies focused on the scale and impact of brownfield properties on local and statewide levels and is active in working to implement new policies and programs that have been adopted by state and local governments around the region.
Seth has also worked as a consultant on a wide variety of development and public improvement projects—from conceptual design and feasibility through design development and land use entitlement. As a land use planner, he has experience in the master planning of large-scale industrial and mixed-use projects.
He has professional training in communications and facilitation. A regular component of his practice is management of public-engagement processes at multiple scales to inform communities about, and involve them in, issues related to environmental cleanup and community development. Seth is a regular speaker on the subject of brownfield redevelopment. He works with a variety of audiences, presenting information for public meetings, providing expert testimony at formal hearings, and speaking at conferences.
Seth has lived in Oregon off and on since 1996 and currently is settled with his wife and three kids in southeast Portland. Fully embracing his 40s, he enjoys long runs, crossword puzzles, vegetable gardening, and craft beverages.
Education
Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning, University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture
Fulbright Fellowship, La Paz, Bolivia
Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in Sociology and Spanish, Linfield College
Certifications
American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP)
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED AP)
Affiliations and Activities
American Planning Association—Oregon and Washington chapters
Urban Land Institute—Northwest Chapter DEI Committee Cochair
Northwest Environmental Business Council
Related NewsView All
MFA is proud to announce the promotion of Seth Otto, AICP, LEED AP, to principal. Seth is a principal planner with a passion for community development, urban revitalization, and environmental conservation. His work focuses on land use...
Kathy J. Lombardi, PEAs part of its quarterly “regional snapshot” series, Metro has published a reader-friendly look at brownfields and their impact on economic growth and development in the Portland metropolitan region. While the region continues to see...
Seth Otto, AICP, LEED APMFA staff led sessions on brownfield development at the most recent Certified Commercial Investment Managers (CCIM) Conference, held on September 29 and 30, 2016, in Bend, OR. Jim Maul, Ted Wall, and Seth Otto prepared a dynamic, informative,...
Seth Otto, AICP, LEED AP