Seth Otto, AICP, LEED AP

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.