Freese and Nichols hire Former Buda City Manager

 Freese and Nichols, Inc., is significantly expanding its municipal planning expertise with the hiring of three planners in the Urban Planning + Design Group in Texas and Oklahoma.

All have broad-ranging experience working for cities of various sizes and are leaders in the American Planning Association (APA).

Chance Sparks, a project manager based in San Marcos, has more than 15 years of planning and management experience and has worked for the cities of Buda, San Marcos and Bulverde in Central Texas in addition to the Texas Department of Rural Affairs Disaster Recovery Program. He is known as a creative and innovative thinker who has led municipalities to multiple award-winning initiatives, as well as a skilled and diplomatic problem solver. Most recently, he spent eight years as assistant city manager and planning director for the city of Buda.

He is currently president-elect of the APA Texas Chapter and holds credentials from the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and the Congress for the New Urbanism. He received master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Texas State University.

Dawn Warrick, a project manager in Tulsa, has more than 23 years of municipal planning experience, including seven years as the city of Tulsa’s planning director. She also has had senior planning roles for Louisville Metro Government in Kentucky and for the city of Fayetteville, Arkansas, giving her an understanding of large urban cities as well as smaller communities. She has conducted and managed development review processes and supported elected and appointed officials as a subject-matter expert. She is experienced in developing and implementing action-oriented, long-range plans using strategies that include updated land use regulations, coordination of services and integration of planning priorities into capital improvement programs.

She will expand on Freese and Nichols’ Oklahoma work, which has included projects for the cities of Edmond, Norman, Choctaw and Nicoma Park and Oklahoma County.

She has served in leadership positions for APA chapters in Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arkansas. She is AICP certified and received master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Arkansas. 

Eleana Tuley, who is based in Freese and Nichols’ Dallas office, has more than six years of experience in both the public and private sector. She worked for the city of McKinney and city of Fort Worth and was a land development consultant for a civil engineering consulting firm in Dallas. She will be a key asset in development review and staff augmentation for clients.

Her municipal planning experience was focused in development review, including reviewing site plans, plats and zoning requests. Her private sector experience consisted of managing project entitlements preparing feasibility studies and designing preliminary concept plans for development proposals in the Austin and DFW regions. She serves as communications officer for the Midwest Section of the APA Texas Chapter. She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin.

Freese and Nichols, Inc. is a professional consulting firm serving clients across the Southeast and Southwest United States. With sustainability in mind, Freese and Nichols plans, designs and manages infrastructure projects. It is the first engineering/architecture firm to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Learn more at Freese and Nichols' website.