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Who interviewed for Big Bear Lake’s GPAC: candidates’ backgrounds and next steps
Summary
Council heard interviews from resident and stakeholder applicants for the GPAC, including longtime residents, planning professionals, volunteer leaders and service‑agency veterans. Council extended interview time and will finalize appointments at a follow‑up meeting next week.
The City of Big Bear Lake continued interviews Jan. 28 for members of the General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC), hearing from a mix of longtime residents, community volunteers and professionals who said they want to shape the city’s 2050 general plan.
City officials told the council several applicants withdrew within 24 hours, so the council extended individual interview time to 15 minutes and agreed to finish interviews today but to hold final appointments at a second meeting next week.
Candidates and key points heard during the session included:
- Kyle: A lifelong Big Bear resident who said he has lived in the valley roughly 38 years and works locally as an artist (chainsaw carving). He emphasized youth involvement, environmental stewardship and the ability to read and synthesize technical documents.
- Brian: Cited long experience with the local arts council and advisory groups and said he would bring collaborative listening and organizational experience to the GPAC.
- Janice Couture: Described decades of local planning office experience, involvement with past general plans and an ability to distill technical reports into policy recommendations for staff to implement.
- Ron: A retired California State Parks employee and resident since 2017 who said his background in parks planning and operations would inform work on outdoor‑oriented elements of the general plan.
- Cody: A manufacturing engineer and volunteer with search and rescue, Cody emphasized technical literacy, reading reports, weighing trade‑offs and bringing a pragmatic approach to planning questions.
- Craig: With a background in housing finance and trade associations, Craig said he would emphasize data‑driven decision making and balancing resident, visitor and second‑homeowner priorities.
- Connie: A former LAPD IT specialist and community volunteer who described experience in emergency planning, public outreach and working across age groups.
Council thanked each applicant and reiterated that final appointments will be made following part‑2 of interviews next week. Staff will notify applicants once council makes selections.
What’s next: part‑2 of interviews and council deliberations are scheduled next week (staff proposed Tuesday after 11 a.m.); staff will reach out to candidates with results after that meeting.
