IRVINE, CALIF. - Award-winning KTGY GROUP, INC., Architecture and Planning, is pleased to announce that KTGY’s Principal Ken Ryan has been invited to participate in the 2008 California Chapter of the American Planning Association (CCAPA) Conference program, “Lights…Planning…Action!,” held from September 21-24, 2008 at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood, Calif.

On Monday, September 22, 2008, from 4:30 pm - 5:45 pm, Ryan will be a featured panelist at the session “What Council Members Really Want,” where he will discuss the many opportunities and pitfalls in dealing with increasingly complex development issues including how to save time; avoid surprises; build and gain trust; achieve consensus; elevate, rather than compromise design; and when, where and why to say something. Attendees will learn how to negotiate the entitlement process from those who actually make the decisions. Ryan is a past two-term mayor of the City of Yorba Linda and has over 20 years of industry experience. Other panelists include the Mayor of the City of Tustin, Jerry Amante; Peter Buffa, a past Mayor of the City of Costa Mesa and principal of Petrone’ Communications, a consulting firm; and Carolyn Cavecche, Mayor of the City of Orange.

Ryan has extensive planning, design, and entitlement experience in projects of varying scope and complexities throughout the United States. His experience overseeing projects from initial ideas to successful implementation provides him with an understanding of the important interrelationship between marketplace, environmental setting, political sensitivities, design considerations, and both private-sector and government perspectives.

Ryan currently heads up KTGY’s Community Planning and Urban Design Studio providing expertise in master planned communities, urban design, mixed-use/regeneration, resort/recreation, strategic planning and entitlement services.

The CCAPA Conference typically draws over 1,200 planners, architects, landscape architects, scientists, housing advocates and many other professionals. For more information or registration, visit www.calapa.org or www.la-apa.org.