Bio

Skills, Professional Background, Accomplishments by Dominic Nozzi

A Lifetime of Achievements (as of January 2023)

Dom Nozzi has a Bachelor of Arts degree in environmental science from SUNY Plattsburgh and a Master of Science degree in town and transportation planning from Florida State University. For 20 years, he served as a senior town and transportation planner for Gainesville Florida and was briefly the growth rate control planner for Boulder Colorado. Today, he maintains a consulting practice in which he writes and speaks about street design, urban design, and quality of life. He is an experienced public speaker, speaking primarily about sprawl, congestion, smart growth, quality of life, and urban design.

His primary professional skills are in urban design (particularly walkable streets and form-based codes), transportation choice, “plain English” land development codes promoting quality of life, long-range comprehensive planning, and inspirational, understandable, educational public presentations. Among his specializations are such skills as Smart Growth, sustainability, and Complete Streets. He is experienced in facilitating design workshops, charrettes, and walkability audits to create or restore safe streets, healthy neighborhoods, and vibrant commercial areas. He is also skilled in crafting or calibrating land development codes for Smart Growth, form-based coding, transects, walkable urbanity, context-sensitive design, and parking. In addition, he is skilled in providing specialized professional recommendations regarding effective tactics for increasing transit use, bicycling and walking.

He served for a number of years as a Complete Streets instructor for the National Complete Streets Coalition for communities throughout the nation. He has been a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism. He authored several environmental, transportation and urban design plans and regulations for Gainesville. He is in Who’s Who for the South and Southwest.  Mr. Nozzi is a contributing author to New Urbanism and Beyond, published by Rizzoli Publishers.

His full collection of published books can be found here. 

As a Senior Planner for the City of Gainesville from 1986 to 2007, he authored the Environmental Conservation, Recreation, and Solid Waste Elements of Gainesville’s 1991-2001 Comprehensive Plan, and the Future Land Use, Urban Design, and Transportation Elements of Gainesville’s 2001-2011 Comprehensive Plan. He crafted “concurrency” (“adequate facilities”) standards for roads, parks, and solid waste. He prepared or revised ordinances pertaining to the protection of creeks, lakes, wetlands, wellfields, nature parks, upland ecological communities, and gateway streets. Other ordinances he prepared or revised include noise control, landscaping and tree management, animal control, sign control, downtown Traditional City overlay, planned unit developments, and traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs).

He was the lead planner for Gainesville’s 26-mile greenway trail system. He served as editor for the update of the city’s “Development Guide,” which is an award-winning guide describing, in layman’s terms, the steps one must follow to go through the city’s development process, and a graphic and written summary of various planning concepts and city development objectives. He was awarded Employee of the Month for the City Department of Community Development in 1987 and Employee of the Year for the Department in 1993.

He served on the Board of Directors for Bike/Walk Virginia in 2007 and 2008.

He was the Duckpond Neighborhood Association president in Gainesville Florida from 1999 to 2005.

He has been an adjunct professor for the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2010 and 2011. He served on the Boulder Transportation Advisory Board from 2013 to 2018. He served on the Whittier Square Condominium Association Board of Directors in Boulder from February 2019 through December 2019.

He served on the Asheville on Bikes Policy Committee. January 2021 through May 2021 and served on the Bike Walk Greenville Board of Directors for a year following that service.  

Summary of Transportation Credentials

As of January 2023, he has undertaken 40 years of academic and professional work in transportation planning. He has been a daily bicycle commuter for over 42 years as of 2019. He has been a bicycle commuter in Rochester New York, Flagstaff Arizona, Plattsburgh New York, Tallahassee Florida, Gainesville, Bloomington Indiana, and Boulder, Colorado. He was lead planner for the Gainesville greenway transportation system (1993-1996). He was a member of the Alachua Greenway Alliance in Gainesville (1994-1996). He served on the Gainesville Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization Design Team (1998-2007). For Gainesville, he wrote the Gateway Streets ordinance, the Greenway ordinance, the Street Connectivity ordinance, and regulations to preserve and enhance the livability of neighborhoods — traffic calming, transect, pedestrian and traditional design (1986-2007). He wrote a pedestrian-oriented form-based code for the Gainesville town center (1998). He wrote the long-range transportation mobility plan for Gainesville (2000-2010). He served on the Board of Directors for Bike/Walk Virginia (2009). He is a former member of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (2008-2014). He is a nationally certified Complete Streets Instructor. He co-instructed seven Complete Streets workshops in various US cities in 2009 and 2010. He has delivered 93 public speeches pertaining to transportation in cities throughout the nation (1992-present). He taught a “Designing for Sustainable Transportation and Quality of Life” course for the University of Colorado Continuing Education and Professional Studies in Boulder (2010, 2011). He formerly served on the PLAN-Boulder County Board of Directors. While on that Board, he authored a Transportation White Paper that was ultimately adopted as the official position of that organization. He served on the Asheville on Bikes Policy Committee. January 2021 through May 2021 and served on the Bike Walk Greenville Board of Directors for a year following that service. It is not a coincidence that his email address is dom@walkablestreets.com and that he owns the walkablestreets.com domain name, as he has much expertise in how to design safe, walkable, neighborly streets. He has published three books on transportation safety, theory, and design.

Selected Published Articles He Has Authored

Nozzi, D. “Fighting the Correct Battle.” The Gainesville Sun, 2 February, 2002.

Nozzi, D. “Growth, Sprawl Not Always Connected.” The Gainesville Sun, 30 September 2002.

Nozzi, D. “Fighting the Correct Battle.” The Town Paper [Gaithersburg, MD], August/September 2001, 11-12.

Nozzi, D. “School Needed for Duckpond.” The Gainesville Sun, 15 July 2001.

Nozzi, D. “Disadvantages of Living in a Public Safety Bubble.” The Gainesville Sun, 23 April 2000.

Nozzi, D. “Leverage and No Growthers.” The Town Paper [Gaithersburg, MD], March/April 2000, 2-3.

Nozzi, D. “Transportation: A New Paradigm for the 21^st Century.” The Gainesville Sun, 30 May 1999.

Nozzi, D. “A Decade of Growth and Change in Alachua County.” Booklet. Gainesville: Friends of Alachua County (Florida). June 1993.

Thrall, G., Swanson, B. and Nozzi, D. “Greenspace Acquisition and Ranking Program (GARP).” Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, Vol. 12, 161-184. 1989.

Miscellaneous

Childhood

In 1972, he set the Scribner Road Elementary School (Penfield New York) record in the triple jump.

In 1973, he was selected as the most improved player on his Penfield Little League baseball team (Sunrise).

Penfield High School

In 1977, he made the second-team all-county as a flankerback for high school football players in Monroe County New York. His teammates selected him as the offensive player of the year. He was also selected the most improved player on the team.

In 1978, he was a leading long-jumper and triple-jumper in Monroe County New York (he briefly held the school record in the triple jump), and was selected as a representative of the County for the triple jump at the High School Track and Field championships in Long Island New York.

In 1978, his classmates in the Class of 1978 selected him as the shyest guy in his senior class.

Click here for photos associated with his participation in Penfield High School football and track & field.

Undergraduate

In 1978, he made it to the Dean’s List because of his 3.89 Grade Point Average at Northern Arizona University in his first semester as a Freshman.

Graduate

In 1983, he had a 4.00 Grade Point Average in his first semester as a graduate student at Florida State University.

Masters Thesis

Nozzi, D. (1985). Bicycle Transportation Engineering and Encouragement Considerations for the Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.  Unpublished.

Employment History

PLAN-Boulder County Board of Directors, March 2014 – March 2016.

Boulder Transportation Advisory Board, March 2013 – 2018.

Adjunct Professor, University of Colorado at Boulder, April 2010 – Present.

Urban Design Consultant and Complete Streets Instructor, October 2007 – Present.

Senior Planner, September 1997 – October 2007. City of Gainesville Florida.

Growth Management Specialist, February 1996 – August 1997. City of Boulder Colorado.

Senior Planner, September 1989 – February 1996. City of Gainesville Florida.

Associate Planner, March 1986 – September 1989. City of Gainesville Florida.

Professional Awards

Marquis Who’s Who for the South and Southwest, 1999/2000 – Present.

Employee of the Year, City of Gainesville Florida, Department of Community Development. 1993.

Professional Affiliations

Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals.

Florida American Planning Association. San Felasco Chapter. Vice Chair. 1986 – 2007.

American Planning Association. Chicago Illinois.

Congress for the New Urbanism.

Professional Committees He Has Served On

Gainesville Florida Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization. Design Team. Vice Chair. 1998 – 2007.

Greenbelt Task Force. Member. 1988-1990. Gainesville Florida.

Community Service

PLAN-Boulder County Board of Directors, 2014 – 2016.

Boulder Transportation Advisory Board. 2013 – 2018. Vice-Chair 2016.

Bike/Walk Virginia. Board of Directors. 2009.

Duckpond Neighborhood Association. President. 1999 – 2004.

Whittier Square Condo Association Board of Directors. February 2019 – December 2019.

Asheville on Bikes Policy Committee. January 2021 — May 2021.

Bike Walk Greenville Board of Directors. August 2021 — October 2022.

He Has Created and Regularly Publishes Blogs To the Following Blog Sites

Dom Nozzi’s Timeless, Lovable, Walkable Neighborhood Design

Dom Nozzi’s Best-Ever Lists

Walkable Streets consulting

Dom Nozzi’s Voyages and Adventures

Dom Nozzi’s Recommended Boulder Transportation Reforms

Mapleton Hill PorchFest

 

Places He Has Visited

Click here for a map showing the worldwide locations he has visited. He has gone on self-guided tours of 60 cities in Italy, 12 cities in Spain, and 15 cities in Germany (169 cities in Europe overall).  He has visited 40 states in the United States and 26 nations in the World.

 

Places He Has Lived

New Britain Connecticut 1960

Rochester New York (35 Sander Street), from 1960-1965.

Penfield New York (36 Horizon Drive), from 1966-1978.

Flagstaff Arizona (Northern Arizona University), from 1978-1981.

Plattsburgh New York (State University of New York at Plattsburgh), from 1981-1983.

Tallahassee Florida (Florida State University), from 1983-1985.

Gainesville Florida, from 1986-2007.

Richmond Virginia, from 2007-2009.

Bloomington Indiana, from Sept-Dec 2009.

Boulder Colorado, from Dec 2009-September 2020.

Asheville North Carolina, from October 2020-May 2021.

Greenville South Carolina, from May 2021 to present. 

Adventures He Has Engaged In

Click here for his Adventures Travelogue. Click here for a photo slide show of his life.

Follow Our (Dom and Maggie’s) Footprints

To learn how to engage in self-guided, affordable, unforgettable travel to the historic old town centers of Western Europe.

Hiking He Has Done in Colorado

He has hiked a total of 175 named trails in Colorado. He has now hiked 2,033 miles of trails in Colorado. Click here for a map of trails he has hiked in Colorado.

Ski Resorts He Has Skied

He has skied at 30 ski resorts around the world, including Innsbruck, Austria; St. Moritz, Switzerland; Bormio Italy; Aspen, Vail, Winter Park, Breckenridge, Copper, Steamboat, and Crested Butte, Colorado; Panorama and Sun Peaks, Canada; St Anton, Austria; Mt Bachelor, Oregon; Park City, Alta, and Snowbird, Utah; and Jackson Hole Wyoming. Click here for a map of the places he has skied. By far, his favorite type of skiing is to ski in tree “glades.”  Click here for his all-time favorite glade run on Eldora’s Powderhorn glade.

Scuba Diving

He has scuba dived at 171 scuba diving sites, including Belize, Little Cayman, Cozumel, the Florida Keys, Roatan Honduras, Hawaii, Bonaire, and the US and British Virgin Islands. His maximum dive depth was 138 feet at the Great Blue Hole in Belize. Click here for a video of his all-time favorite dive – the Manta Ray Night Dive on the Kona Coast of the Big Island in Hawaii. Click here for his all-time favorite wreck dive (which occurred in Honduras).

Skydiving

Click here for his description of jumping out of a perfectly good plane in Williston, Florida in February 1995.

Paragliding

Click here for a video showing him paragliding over Wonderland Lake in Boulder CO.

Mountain Biking

He is an accomplished single-track mountain biking enthusiast as can be seen by clicking here and here.

Whitewater

He has whitewater rafted 11 rivers in 7 US states and 2 rivers in nations outside the US. He has also whitewater kayaked on Boulder Creek CO.

Dancing

He has been an avid contra dancer and western swing dancer since a friend dragged him to his first contra dance in Gainesville FL in 1989. Click here for an example video of contra. Click here for photos of Dom dancing.

Kayaking

Starting in the 1980s, he has kayaked nearly all navigable waters in Florida, and many in Colorado. Click here for photos of Dom kayaking. 

Road Running

Starting in the 1980s, he has run a large number of 5-kilometer road races (including a nude 5K in Lutz FL!), a smaller number of 10K and 15K races, and one marathon (NYC). His last three Bolder Boulder 10K runs in 2017, 2018, and 2019 were clocked at a time under his age. Click here for photos of Dom as a runner.

His Dietary Epiphany

In the spring of 2018, he had an enormously beneficial dietary epiphany. Click here and here for his essays about this.

Houses and Land He Has Owned or Co-Owned

Historic Duckpond Bungalow on NE 5th Street in Gainesville. In the late ’80s, he bought a cute little 55-year old bungalow in the historic Duckpond neighborhood. The bungalow was the first house built on N.E. 5th Street, which was called Kentucky Avenue at the time. He spent a lot of time and money restoring the house, including installing a solar water heater on the roof, building a wood deck, re-doing the bathroom and kitchen, repainting the interior and exterior, and re-wiring the electrical system. In 2001, he did an exhaustive title search to assemble a history of ownership on the house that reaches back to when it was built in 1935. Click here for photos of the bungalow.

Flamingo Hammock on SE 27th Street in Gainesville. Click here for photos of the 10 acres he owned.

Kelley-Swords House on NE 4th Street in Gainesville. Click here and a description of the house, and here for photos of the house.

Historic Rowhouse on Floyd Avenue in Richmond Virginia. Click here for photos of the house.

Holiday Rowhouse on 16th Street in Boulder. Click here for photos of the house.

Spruce Street Condo in Boulder. Click here for photos of the house.

Historic Bungalow in Asheville North Carolina. Built in 1920. First house built on Eloise Street. Click here for a video of the house renovation showing how we brought the house back to its former glory. 

Charleston-Style Cottage in Greenville South Carolina. Built in 2015. Click here for photos of the house and the city.

Historic Brick home on Croft St in Greenville South Carolina. Built in 1927. Click here for photos of the house.

Social Event Meetups He Currently Owns and Hosts:

1. Sunday morning coffee and conversation in Greenville.

This meetup involves a walk or bicycle to a cafe or coffeehouse in Greenville most every Sunday morning, and includes conversation with new friends and old. https://www.meetup.com/sunday-coffee-lovers-greenville/

2. Greenville wine social meetup.

This meetup is a wine and appetizer potluck social gathering. Wine and food theme are selected for each, and tend to be held in the home of hosts. https://www.meetup.com/greenville-wine-social-meetup-group/

3. Greenville Social Bicycle Rides.

A low-speed ride to a restaurant, and tours of neighborhoods, bicycle trails (such as the Swamp Rabbit Trail), Critical Mass, bikeable streets, and an occasional bicycling “pub crawl.” This meetup is a once-a-month event. https://www.meetup.com/greenville-social-bicycle-rides/

Music

He is the founder, chief organizer and chair of Mapleton Hill PorchFest in Boulder, from September 2012 to September 2020. Mapleton Hill PorchFest is a neighborhood walkabout where local musicians play and sing unplugged music on the beautiful porches of Mapleton Hill. Here is a musical sample of the Mapleton Hill PorchFest.

Number of Books and Book Pages He Has Read

1,829 books read over the course of his life, consisting of 570,681 pages. He tends to read between 50 and 80 books each year.

Museum Exhibit

On November 15, 2018, he was honored to learn that blog comments he had posted to one of his blog sites (regarding the 40 people in cars, in chairs, on bicycles, and on foot photo set) was featured as an exhibit in the Museum of Boulder “The Boulder Experience” gallery.

Photos

He has shot and stored 66,907 photos on his laptop.

Videos Created

He has created and uploaded 193 videos to YouTube.

Letters to the Editor Published

46 letters to the editor published in the following newspapers:

Rochester (NY) Times-Union

Florida Flambeau (Florida State University student newspaper)

Tallahassee (FL) Democrat

Florida Alligator (University of Florida student newspaper)

Gainesville (FL) Sun

Moon Magazine (Gainesville FL)

Planning Magazine (American Planning Association)

Washington Post

Bloomington (IN) Times-Herald

Boulder (CO) Daily Camera

The Boulder Weekly

Guest Opinions (Newspaper and Magazine Essays) Published

57 guest opinions (relatively lengthy essays) and 46 letters to the editor published in the following newspapers and magazines:

Gainesville (FL) Sun

Boulder (CO) Daily Camera

The Greenville (SC) News

The Blue Line (Boulder CO)

Virginia Chapter APA Newsbrief

Virginia Business Newsletter

Bloomington (IN) Herald-Times

Apalachee Tortoise (Tallahassee FL)

The Town Paper (new urbanism newspaper)

Friends of Alachua County Talk (FACT: Alachua County FL)

Uptown Update (Chicago newsletter)

Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch

Colorado Independent (his guest opinion in Boulder Daily Camera quoted)

Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA)

Nozzi, D. (2008). Downtown Master Plan Returns City to Timeless Tradition. Virginia Business Magazine, April.

Grant Ian Thrall, Bert Swanson and D. Nozzi, 1988. “Greenspace acquisition and ranking program (GARP): a computer-assisted decision strategy.” Computers, Environment, and Urban Systems, Vol. 12, 161- 184.

Tally of Blogs He Has Written

Blog Site	Blogs	Views
Timeless, Lovable, Walkable Neighborhood Design	756	296,871
Best Ever	152	96,261
Walkable Streets	74	66,381
Dom Nozzi’s Voyages & Adventures	256	63,300
The Road Less Traveled	512	6,568
Boulder Transportation Reforms Recommended	228	1,130
Total	1,978	530,511

Social Links

YouTube Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/dnozzi

Facebook: http://facebook.com/dom.nozzi

Speeches Given

93 public speeches given. He has given speeches in the following cities:

Rochester NY

Buffalo NY

Boulder CO

Gainesville FL

Chattanooga TN

Ocala FL

Volusia County FL

Port St Lucie FL

Sarasota FL

Jacksonville FL

St Louis MO

Ybor City FL

Philadelphia PA

Tampa FL

Orlando FL

Asheville NC

Winston-Salem NC

Evansville IN

Kingsport TN

Tallahassee FL

Halifax Nova Scotia, Canada

Palatka FL

Bloomington IN

Indianapolis IN

Crescent Beach FL

Reston VA

St Augustine FL

Roanoke VA

Richmond VA

Duluth MN

Dakota County MN

Montreal Canada

Topeka KS

Manitou Springs CO

Memphis TN

Pipestone MN

Niagara Falls NY

Ft Collins CO

Longmont CO

Lawrence KS

Dayton OH

Denver CO

Fargo ND

Moorhead MN

He gave several interviews on his speaking tours. Examples can be found by clicking here, here, and here. An example of his “Road to Ruin” speech can be found here.

Check  out this May 2020 Active Towns Podcast interview of him and his partner Maggie, where they describe their love of their walkable and bikeable lifestyle living in town center Boulder CO, creating a “PorchFest” in Boulder, and the guidance they are offering on their FollowOurFootprints.com travel blog based on their years of travel in Europe.

Newspapers That Have Quoted Him

Orlando Sentinel

Miami Herald

Planners Network, American Planning Association

St Pete Times (FL)

Ocala (FL) Star-Banner

Jacksonville (FL) Business Journal

New Urban News

Victoria Transport Policy Institute, British Columbia

Delaware Livable Neighborhoods

Planetizen

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Eastern Missouri Sierra Club

Livable Neighborhoods, State of Delaware

Planners Advisory Service, American Planning Association

Evansville (IN) Courier and Press

The Coast, Halifax, Nova Scotia Weekly

Carnegie Borough Planning Commission

Riverside (CA) Press Enterprise

CNU Florida

INFORUM

Ft Myers (FL) News-Press

Houston Chronicle

Eugene (OR) Weekly

Palatka (FL) Daily News

Zoning News, American Planning Association

Bloomington (IN) Herald-Times

Virginia American Planning Association newsletter

San Marcos (TX) Downtown Association newsletter

St Augustine (FL) Record

Urban Sprawl: The Hidden Crisis in Rochester (NY) newsletter

Minneapolis MN online newsletter

The Ottawa (Canada) Citizen

The Post and Courier (Charleston SC)

PLAN Boulder County newsletter

He formerly brewed his own beer and wine. He formerly made his own pasta and bread before he gave each of those (except wine) up when he adopted a low-carb, high-fat diet.

He has run the New York City Marathon, is an avid traveler and adventurer, scuba diver, hiker, kayaker, bicyclist and skier.

He now lives in Greenville, South Carolina.