Staff Report

WARSAW – Justin Taylor has been named by Mayor Joe Thallemer as the new City Planner and head of the Building and Plan Department for the City of Warsaw. 

Justin Taylor

Taylor will fill the position vacated by Jeremy Skinner, who will assume the newly created Community Development Director position for Warsaw. 

Taylor has worked for the City of Warsaw since 2016. Initially hired as an assistant city planner, he is currently serving as Senior City Planner, where his duties include oversight of land use planning for the city, leading both the Plan Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. Taylor has also led the multi-jurisdictional Ride-Walk infrastructure committee. Under his leadership, significant design and build of the Ride-Walk Master Plan has occurred.

A graduate of Lakeland Christian Academy and the Ball State University School of College of Architecture and Planning in 2009, with a degree in landscape architecture, he is a talented designer with extensive work experience in urban public space planning and many facets of urban residential design. 

Examples of his talent locally include the Buffalo Street Alley Activation Project design and significant contribution to the North Buffalo Street Plaza design, scheduled for early spring completion. 

He is also spearheading the upgrading and replanting of the downtown streetscapes and has served as a valued advisor to the Warsaw Public Arts Commission. He also led the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council and guided them through a mural project in 2019.

He will assume his new duties on Jan. 1 and one of his first priorities will be to implement an online permitting process for city-issued building permits, a project he has been working on in 2020 and scheduled for mid-2021 rollout.