Jeremy Skinner, Warsaw city planner, looks at an aerial photo of the city of Warsaw. It hangs on a wall just outside of his office in city hall.

WARSAW — As far back as middle school, Jeremy Skinner knew he wanted to be involved in architecture of some type. He was “fascinated with the mixture of planning, design and political science.”

That fascination eventually led him into working with city and county planning offices. Presently he is the planner for the city of Warsaw, a position he has held since December 2004.

A native of Churubusco in Whitley County, Skinner graduated from Churubusco High School in 1997. He then enrolled in the College of Architecture and Planning program at Ball State University and graduated from BSU in 2001. While in college, he became more interested in planning. “I liked the government side of it,” he said.

His first position after earning his college degree was working in the planning office in Huntington County. “It was a joint city-county planning office and I did mostly the city planning stuff,” he said. He held that position for about three years before moving to Warsaw to become the city planner.

As a city planner, Skinner works with and-or serves on several boards. Those include the Warsaw Planning Commission, Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals, Warsaw Redevelopment Commission and also sitting on the Warsaw Traffic Commission.

The planning office issues building permits for within the city limits and Skinner oversees Indiana Department of Transportation projects, as well as redevelopment projects. Those have included, among others, the technology park and the current Buffalo Street project. It will involve a mixed use of town and city homes and completely reconstructing Buffalo Street.

Administering the city zoning and subdivision ordinances are also part of Skinner’s responsibilities. “Any new development starts in the planning office,” he noted.

He has a staff of eight in the building and planning department in city hall including an assistant city planner, building commissioner, code enforcement, building inspector, GIS administrator and two administrative assistants. About four or five years ago, the building and planning department was moved into city hall, a renovated bank building, after being on Center Street where the sewage department was located.

Skinner said his passion is “creating development opportunities and seeing those come to fruition.” That includes overseeing the projects.

The frustrating part is seeing the wheels of government move slowly. For an example, the Buffalo Street project has been in the works since 2009. But though the development projects can be time consuming, they are rewarding in the end. “The fun part is seeing the end product,” he said.

He cited the Chinworth Bridge Trailhead, the second phase of the Beyer Trail project and phase one of the Market Street project as among some of the rewarding projects.

Jeremy is married to Melissa and they have a daughter, Cassidy, age 10, and a son, Lewis, age 6. The Skinner family lives near Pierceton.

He has a workshop for a hobby and enjoys woodworking and building things, including furniture. And fishing is a hobby too.