Former Ossining planning director joins VHB

The former planning director for the village of Ossining, Valerie Monastra, has joined the White Plains office of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. as senior project manager.

Valerie Monastra

Monastra joins the community planning, design and engineering consulting company after 10 years in Ossining village government, where she led planning, land use, zoning, and housing and community development projects as planning director.

Her new private-sector employer said Monastra was instrumental in amending the village code to enact an affordable housing provision and establish the village”™s affordable housing program in 2009. She managed the rewriting of the village”™s zoning, storm water and flood damage prevention codes and supervised the development of Ossining’s comprehensive plan, for which the village received the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation”™s Planning Achievement Award in 2010.

Monastra is director-at-large for the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation and a member of the American Planning Association and American Institute of Certified Planners. She holds master”™s degrees in urban and environmental policy and planning from Tufts University and in geochemistry from Cornell University and completed advanced study in public administration at Indiana State University.