Taylor Helps Shape Look Of The City
WARSAW — It’s one thing to design a residential landscape used by a family and their friends. But it’s something entirely different to design and create spaces for the public to use.
As assistant city planner for the city of Warsaw, who works in the planning department in city hall, Justin Taylor has a hand in creating things the public can use.
Born in Fort Wayne, Taylor moved to Warsaw when at middle school age. He later graduated from Lakeland Christian Academy in 2002. Then his sense of adventure kicked in and he spent a year in Europe living in Austria, hiking the Alps and working on a farm.
“I crisscrossed Europe and backpacked,” he said. “I had saved up money and wanted to do it before college, so I signed up for hiking programs. I wanted to get that experience.”
He came back to the U.S. and enrolled at Ball State University. “I wanted to study architecture initially. I liked the way European cities were put together; they were more accommodating to people.”
But in this first year at the university, he realized landscape architecture was more interesting and that eventually became his major. Upon graduating in 2009, at the height of the recession, he was one of only two people out of 30 who made it through architecture school at Ball State to actually land a job in the field.
For Taylor, it meant moving to the Chicago suburb of Vernon Hills, Ill. During the next four and a half years, he was a residential landscape designer and designed pools, patios and more for people. Later he was offered a job near Grayslake, Ill., designing parks, trail systems and streetscapes.
“Then the governor (of Illinois) stopped the funding for parks,” he said. So he worked from his home for a couple of years doing freelance work for five different companies and built websites, did three-dimensional work and more.
A family situation brought him back to Warsaw and Taylor was hired to replace Tim Dombrosky, who took a job elsewhere, in the Warsaw Planning Department.
Taylor essentially has had a hand in any of the big city projects within the last year or so. He chairs the Ride + Walk Committee that is responsible for overseeing pedestrian and bicycle riding infrastructure in the city. The committee also deals with any issues involving walkers and bicyclers, safety matters, bike lanes and signage.
“It is amazing for a city this size,” to have such a committee and the infrastructure, he said. “It is really an avid cycling community,” he added, citing in particular the Fat & Skinny Tire Festival where riders from even other states participate.
He also helped with designing the Rotary Park at the corner of Center and Market streets. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held in late September for the park. It will have a pavilion, rock walls for climbing and a basic bicycle repair station. And there will be a wide sidewalk along Market Street connecting to the park.
Also in the works is a bike share program to be launched in the spring where bicycles can be rented from four different stations in downtown Warsaw, on the west side of the city, at Grace College and in the Village at Winona.
“It’s nice to design something for the public and not just for a family,” he said, commenting on what he likes about his job. “It is so much more satisfying.”
Taylor, who lives in Warsaw, enjoys oil painting, biking, kayaking and fishing while kayaking.