Emmanuel Ursu
Principal Planner
Emmanuel brings over 30 years of planning and community development experience serving various California cities. He is adept at processing development applications for simple and complex projects in challenging environments. His experience spans coastal and hillside communities, urban environments, and suburban and semi-rural settings. He is pragmatic and thoughtful in his approach and seeks common objectives through collaboration.
As the former Planning Director for the City of Orinda, he earned the trust of a highly engaged community and its leaders. He identified and leveraged opportunities to advance multiple public objectives, streamlined the development review process without compromising the community’s land use values, established and maintained a reputation for thoughtful, fair decisions, and impartially advised the City’s leaders on the implications, intent, and meaning of city policies, providing options to advance policy decisions.
Emmanuel holds a Bachelor of Science in Urban and Regional Planning from California Polytechnic University, Pomona. He has served on policy committees for the League of California Cities and as President of the League's Planning and Community Development Department.
He enjoys spending time with his family, alpine skiing, running, and hiking.
Office: East Bay