Living the game

James Walden was named director of Planning and Development for the city of Conway in January 2019. He replaced Bryan Patrick, who retired in December 2018.
James Walden was named director of Planning and Development for the city of Conway in January 2019. He replaced Bryan Patrick, who retired in December 2018.

Growing up, James Walden spent many hours playing SimCity video games and pouring over state highway and tourist maps, as well as population and statistics. He said it may sound incredibly nerdy, but he was always excited when the census would come along.

“My dad, John Walden, worked for the city of Benton as the finance director, so I was already invested in that way as well,” James Walden said. “Playing SimCity as a kid and loving maps as a kid really drew me in with the fascination and the shape of a city over time.

“It is an incredible nerdy thing, but I think there is a whole generation of city planners out there who got their start from playing SimCity.”

Walden was hired in January 2019 as the new director of Planning and Development for the city of Conway. He replaced Bryan Patrick, who retired in December 2018. In a press release from the city, Conway Mayor Bart Castleberry said Walden “brings a wealth of knowledge and experience” to the position.

“The planning director is vitally important to the city as we plan for our future growth and development,” Castleberry said in the release. “I’m looking forward to seeing progress under his leadership.”

Walden came to his position for the city of Conway from Garver, an engineering, architectural and planning firm, where he served as the urban planning manager. He said he was a consultant, working for various cities and their planning departments.

“This position [in Conway] was something I had my eye on for a time because Conway is a really progressive community,” Walden said. “I knew this was somewhere I would like to work and help plan and shape the community.

“I thought it would be a really great opportunity.”

Walden is originally from Benton, graduating from Benton High School in 2000. He earned his undergraduate degree in geography and anthropology from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 2005 and his master’s degree in public administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2010.

“Conway has definitely lived up to its reputation. It is an extremely welcoming community, and I have been really amazed by the cooperative spirit,” Walden said. “There are things to fix within our regulations, and we are working here and there to streamline some things that, regulationwise, we have as a city.

“We want to indicate why that regulation exists and if it might not be necessary, making sure it isn’t an obstacle for developing. … There are a lot of areas where we can improve.”

Walden said that in 30 to 40 years, he hopes to see the city reach 100,000 people. He said that as of the latest census estimate, Conway had 66,000 residents. He said this year, the number may be closer to 68,000, but “it is hard to project what kind of response rate we will get.”

“We are looking at how the community looks at that size and what type of development we need and what type of services,” Walden said. “We also need to know where that growth is going to go. Those are some of the big things.”

Levi Hill, assistant planning director for the city, was hired at the same time as Walden. Hill was working in Nashville, Tennessee, for that city’s planning department but is originally from central Arkansas.

“This is home for me, and it was a good opportunity for me to get back around home and family,” Hill said. “Conway was an attractive city for a planner in general. Some cities are on the forefront of planning, and I definitely felt like Conway was one of them.

“It has been a great experience. James is extremely knowledgeable with planning in general and is very knowledgeable about state law. … I really enjoy learning a lot from him. He is a laid-back guy. He is a people person who gets along with different personality types. I have really enjoyed working with and learning from him.”

Walden said Conway has been on a very interesting path over time because it is so diverse.

“You can’t really define it as a bedroom community because while there is a component of people who commute for work, Conway is also a job center or workforce center,” Walden said. “It is a college town as well, so our identity is wrapped up in all three of those, and all three of those play an important role in how Conway has transitioned over time.

“When you look at it, it is great for a community to not have all of its eggs in one basket. It is so diverse because we benefit from being just down the road from Little Rock and the fact that we are such an attractive market for employers and employers that require highly educated [employees] — all of those things play a role for what the identity is. … Overall, there is more benefit than any downside.”

He said one of the big areas that is a concern of focus of his is some of the older legacy corridors, including Oak Street and portions of Harkrider, that need reinvestment — “how we can create strategies that are long-term assets for the community because both of those corridors are extremely important because they move a lot of traffic that flows within the community. We want to make sure we continue to see reinvestment in those areas and that they remain healthy over time.”

Finley Vinson has been the city engineer and director of the city’s transportation department for about five years.

“Working with James is great,” Vinson said. “He has been very receptive to new ideas and has implemented a lot of changes that needed to be made.

“He has helped us accomplish all of those things, and he has also implemented new policies and development review processes, which has made things better for everybody.”

Hill said the department was right on the cusp of implementing some new ideas and development procedures, but the coronavirus issue has put a lot of those on pause.

“We are really focused on our trail expansion and opportunities for our existing trail network,” Hill said. “We are also working on our bicycle infrastructure, helping it grow as much as we can.”

Walden said that long-term, it is hard to forecast what impact the coronavirus is going to have on the city.

“Conway is an extremely resilient community, and I think, long-term, we are going to be OK, but there are a lot of individual businesses that are definitely hurting at this time,” Walden said.

“During this time,” Vinson said, “the goal is to make everything run as normally as possible.”

Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.

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