Simon Lacoste Email & Phone Number

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

In my current position, I evaluate development applications for small-scale development projects in Toronto. This involves preparing reports with planning recommendations for a planning committee. Also, my position includes responding to requests for information from developers, consultants, internal and external government workers, elected officials, and the general public.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

In this position, I examined and approved plans submitted for approval for compliance. I used the applicable Zoning By-law, City regulations, and applicable laws to judge their compliance. This was done for the purpose of issuing building permits.

Brampton, Ontario, Canada

In this role, I responded to inquiries made to the planning department about development planning proposals and other planning matters. I also completed pre-application consultation, rezoning, Committee of Adjustment, site plan, and part lot control applications. My duties included helping to process complex rezoning and Official Plan amendment applications.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

In this position, I investigated, identified, and consulted zoning requirements for properties across North America, which involved organizing my work activities to meet specific company metrics. I spoke with diverse stakeholders to learn about their needs. I built relationships over the phone with real estate developers, real estate brokers, property owners, and other real estate professionals. I also researched, monitored, inputted, and maintained Canadian real estate market data. This involved collecting data through phone interviews and web research and entering it in the company's database.

Toronto, Canada Area

In this position, I was working in the Heritage Planning Unit. This unit creates and interprets heritage policies for Ontario and its municipalities. My main project involved studying official plans in Ontario. For the project, I studied over 50 municipal official plans to analyze how their policies managed heritage assets in these municipalities. Then, I compiled relevant policies in a spreadsheet using Excel to create statistics to summarize how municipal official plans manage heritage assets in Ontario. These statistics included what proportion of municipalities map out their cultural heritage assets and what kind of land use planning policy tools municipalities use to manage their heritage assets. This spreadsheet could then be consulted by other staff members in the department.I was also involved in other work to support ministerial activities. For example, at the time, the ministry wanted to update guidance material. This guidance material helps municipalities identify and preserve their heritage assets. To support these projects, I researched how other jurisdictions manage their heritage assets and I researched how municipalities legislate emergency maintenance for heritage structures that require immediate repairs.

Sarnia, Ontario

In this position, I initiated, established, and coordinated a historical walking tour in downtown Sarnia. This involved researching and compiling the information for the tour by consulting websites and the county archives; writing a script for the tour; editing leaflets used to advertise the tour; advertising the tour by distributing leaflets and being interviewed by media; acting as tour guide and presenting this information to large groups of people; organizing tour logistics, which included guiding up to 200 tour participants through city streets; calculating and tabulating tour revenues and expenses; and arranging invoices for the heritage committee.Also, I created and updated documents for city’s heritage committee. This involved researching new property information in city documents and county archives, creating and updating property entries in the register, creating documents to advertise and explain the heritage committee’s activities and processes, and updating property pictures.Another one of my responsibilities involved canvassing neighbourhoods to collect information for Sarnia’s 2018 Commercial Inventory. This involved driving or walking to collect the information, tabulating it in a spreadsheet, measuring lot and building sizes using a GIS program, and calculating the amount of vacant commercial land in the city.Other activities I was involved in included consolidating heritage documents to organize the department’s resources and processes more effectively; and designing, drafting, and editing secondary units brochure, student housing brochure for students, and student housing brochure for homeowners.

Toronto, Canada Area

In this position I was involved with the coordination of municipal infrastructure projects that are scheduled for construction in the city in 2018, 2019 and 2020. I also used ArcGIS to generate maps to display the projects' locations in the city of Toronto. I also executed department procedures to identify conflicts in these projects' construction schedules to eventually resolve the conflicts.

Beaumont-Hamel, France

In this position, I worked as a tour guide at the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial in Beaumont-Hamel, France. As part of this job, I presented the site's history to large groups of people in an interactive tour that I prepared myself.This work experience allowed me to enhance my existing customer service skills and allowed me to develop a knack to deliver unrehearsed, professional presentations to diverse audiences from many different countries. In this position I also synthesized large amounts of researched historical information into shorter presentations. Also, I adjusted my tours to make them suitable for the different audiences that would be visiting the site (school groups, war veterans, families with young children, etc.).On July 1st, 1916, around 780 men from the Newfoundland Regiment charged German defences at this site on the opening day of the Somme Offensive. This was a major Allied offensive in the First World War. After only 30 minutes of fighting, 86% of the men in the regiment that were part of the assault ended up becoming casualties. The land that would eventually become the memorial site at Beaumont-Hamel was purchased by the government of Newfoundland in the 1920s to commemorate the brave men from Newfoundland that fought here and in other sites in Europe in the First World War.

Toronto, On

In this position, I was involved in many qualitative research projects. I was involved in researching High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane regulations in North America to determine how they compare to Toronto's policies. Also, I conducted extensive literature and policy review to determine how curbside management policies and practices evolved over time in the North American urban context. Also, I investigated current trends in this area. As part of that research project, I also focused on how accessible parking is regulated in centre city areas in North America.Additionally, I was involved in analyzing year to year travel time statistics for the King Street streetcar line in downtown Toronto as part of the King Street Visioning Study. I conducted this analysis to provide information for future streetcar services on this line.Also, I decided to volunteer and help a co-worker with an ongoing project that involved locating GIS data from the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change to map out where city waste management facilities were located. I also volunteered to help another co-worker organize a road database to determine possible organizational improvements.Finally, I was extensively involved in primary research in this position; I conducted independent field work to collect pictures of curbside violations in downtown Toronto. As well, I was involved in researching historical policy documents located in library and city archives to collect information for the ongoing curbside management project I was involved in.

Brantford, On

While I was in Brantford, I worked in Engineering Services in the Public Works Commission.My work mainly involved conducting traffic-related studies such as intersection counts, speed studies, pedestrian travel studies, and parking lot studies. City staff then consulted the information and data that I collected to respond to citizen comments and concerns. I was also involved in site work and public meetings to solve and understand citizen concerns relating to transportation in the city.I was also involved in collision reduction research. I was responsible for maintaining a computerized collision database containing police collision reports. Using this information, I also identified and analyzed critical collision locations for corrective measures and compiled this research into a comprehensive report for my department.

Ottawa, Canada Area

In Ottawa, I worked in the Planning and Growth Management Department in Development Review. This position mainly involved processing development applications while following municipal and provincial regulations and laws. I also wrote reports to evaluate how well developments would fit into the neighbourhoods they were being constructed in.I also consulted with developers and the public directly to discuss their concerns and the department's ideas regarding applications for development. Furthermore, I responded to public requests for information regarding historic land use in the city of Ottawa. I retrieved the information from a GIS database and delivered the information in a predetermined format to applicants that had requested information for properties of their interest.Finally, I also volunteered to help the Heritage Services Section with their built heritage conservation activities in the city. I researched historic information and wrote a report for a property in the currently existing Briarcliffe heritage conservation district. I was also involved in cataloguing grant applications for the city's Heritage Grant Program for Building Restoration.

London, Canada Area

I worked at the City of London as a summer student in the Development Planning department.Most of my responsibilities consisted of compiling information and data into reports for the department. This included researching municipal consent application processes, shipping container zoning regulations, year-by-year housing market data statistics and recently constructed properties of interest in the city. I also studied the Planning Act, Official Plans and zoning by-laws while I was there. Also, I reviewed planning comments and site plans for development applications, consents, variances and amendments. Additionally, I edited documents for special parking permission applications and condominium regulations.

Master'S Degree, City/Urban, Community And Regional Planning

Bachelor Of Environmental Studies | Urban Planning

Activities and Societies: Volunteer with the Faculty of Environment

Bilingual High School Diploma

I attended this school for High School. I was interested in going to a French school instead of my district's English school, so I.