Jacksonville-based England-Thims & Miller Inc. and Jacksonville Daily Record Editor at Large Karen Brune Mathis won a collective three Planning Awards on June 6 from the Florida Planning and Zoning Association.
The association recognized Mathis as the 2024-25 Outstanding Journalist in Florida.
The honoree is a journalist who “effectively and accurately puts forth information about planning and zoning issues to the public.”
ETM nominated Mathis for the award.
England-Thims & Miller’s work on the Jacksonville Jaguars Stadium of the Future was chosen for 2024-25 Outstanding Innovation as a “project or development that is unusual or ahead of its time.”
ETM also was awarded with the Outstanding Sustainability Project recognition for Seven Pines for “plans or projects that improve on and harmonize with the natural environment and reduce energy costs.”
Seven Pines is the 1,060-acre master-planned residential and commercial project owned by the Skinner family at southeast Butler Boulevard and Interstate 295.
ETM, founded and privately owned since 1977, is a civil engineering firm that says it delivers “innovative, sustainable, and community-focused infrastructure solutions throughout Florida.”
Its specialties include civil engineering, planning, landscape architecture, geospatial technologies, surveying, water and utilities, and construction management.
Its website is ETMInc.com. It is led by Chairman Hugh Mathews and President and CEO Tyler Mathews.
ETM has more than 360 employees across Florida.
The association made 12 awards at its annual conference, which was held this year in St. Augustine at the Casa Monica Resort & Spa, Autograph Collection.
The association, based in Orlando, was founded in 1951 during the national conference of the American Planning and Civic Association held in Miami.
The association’s purpose is to promote cooperation among official planning and zoning boards or commissions, civic bodies, citizens, technicians and students interested in planning and zoning in the state of Florida; to cultivate and stimulate interest in planning and zoning by local governments; to encourage the observance of sound planning and zoning practices; to furnish information, advice and assistance to its members and provide a medium for exchanging information, advice and assistance among them; to engage in research and issue publications on planning and zoning and related matters; to promote and encourage the sound development of land, water and natural resources and the elimination of air and water pollution; and to educate the public and elected and appointed officials in matters pertaining to planning and zoning.
The 601-member statewide group comprises 13 chapters.
FPZA.org says George W. Simons Jr., a planning consultant from Jacksonville, and General Foster of St. Augustine, then adjutant general of the state, made the first effort to form a planning and zoning organization in Florida in 1920.
After several unsuccessful attempts before the Legislature, the group, then known as the “Florida Planning Association,” became inactive, but certain members, in particular Simons, continued to press for state legislation.
The Legislature passed Florida’s first general zoning enabling act in 1939.
Statewide interest in planning and zoning resurfaced, leading to the 1951 organization.