Mountain and Resort Town Planners Summit 2025

WCS Engagement and Planning took the lead in designing and planning the Mountain and Resort Town Planners Summit 2025. Celebrating its 19th year, the Summit returned to Whistler, where its inaugural meeting took place. The Summit is an annual gathering of community planners (and other professionals) based in mountain and resort towns mainly in the Pacific Northwest and typically alternates between Canada and US communities. This year, 80 attendees came from BC, AB, WA, OR, CA, MT, ID, UT, CO, WY.; this diversity and representation created a special culture and experience.

The Summit focuses on the unique challenges, ideas and leading practices in mountain and resort communities, and learning from and sharing with each other is what makes the Summit valuable for all participants. While there are definitely some jurisdictional differences between Canada and the US municipalities (e.g., ability to apply local sales taxes), there are more things in common than not, and what works well in one community can likely be adapted to work successfully in another.

This year, Summit topics included: growth management, wildfire response, people-focused transportation planning, ethics of AI in planning, workforce housing, innovative engagement, circular economy, and others. Presentations, panel discussions and lots of opportunities for shared learning through workshops and world cafe discussions, along with ample networking time, were provided. Participants highlighted the value of the unique focus of the Summit on issues pertinent to their communities and the and the opportunity to share among this network of mountain and resort town planners.