Spotlight on Staff | Denise Ashton, Senior Principal

Denise has been involved in the planning and design field for the development industry for almost 40 years.  Her schooling as a geographer, set the stage not only at the broad perspectives of large-scale land planning but also at the diverse intricacies of designing and entitling quality neighborhoods and communities. Join us for a Q&A session with her.

1.) When did you realize that you wanted to be a planner?

I didn’t really know this profession was out there when I was in school. I went to Cal State Fullerton to get a degree, period. I really liked the earth sciences and thought I’d be a geologist. When I became aware of the math that was needed, I focused on geography, physical geography specifically, and became fascinated with cartography and aerial photo interpretation. Geography is really broad. I learned about social geography and cities and Central Business Districts and got an internship at the County of Orange as a map drafting technician. I was exposed to the wonderful work of planning and community/neighborhood design….then I was hooked!

2.) Tell us about your journey to become a planner? Schooling, first job, etc.?

After working at Orange County for 2.5 years, before and after I got my BA degree in Geography from Cal State Fullerton, I left and went to work in the private sector at Phillips Brandt Reddick (PBR). This was a firm with a hotbed of talent and fantastic projects; among the were, the Rancho Mission Viejo property where we did the planning and design of the Plano Trabuco (which became Rancho Santa Margarita, Ladera Ranch and Las Flores), Talega, Bolsa Chica, Newhall Land and Farming, the Valencia community and Whiting Ranch now Foothill Ranch to name a few. Many people who started their own businesses came from PBR – Michael Brandman (MBA), Gil Martinez (FMA), Van Stephens (Forma), Greg Vail (Vail Speck Taylor), Paul Haden (Collaborative West), Tom Davis (Tierra Planning). Steve Kellenberg was there too…it was crazy!

I worked at PBR for 5 years, had my first son, worked at Corbin Yamafugi (CYP) for a year, then went to work at Tierra Planning with Tom Davis and Alan Fishman in San Juan Capistrano. I was there when we were bought by David Evans and Associates where I stayed for essentially a total of 15 years until I came to WHA in 1999.

3.) What’s your favorite thing about WHA?

I love the company culture, the talented people, the great clients and the support the firm has given me to be active in outside organizations like ULI. ULI is an incredible organization to learn from and to educate/mentor the younger generation, which I am so passionate about, while bringing exposure to the firm and enhancing my knowledge of the development industry. I thank Bill for allowing me to participate with them … it’s invaluable!

4.) What was the most exciting project you’ve worked on at WHA?

I’ve had quite a few, from large to small.

I love the community visioning and design of the Villages of Columbus (Columbus Grove and Square) at Tustin Legacy (the old MCAS base in Tustin, right in our own backyard!) where we went from visioning to entitlement, review of all the individual plan submissions and designs from the builders/other architects and then seeing it built! Very rewarding! We also had the privilege of working with Standard Pacific on the latest for-sale residential in Tustin Legacy called Greenwood, which was a competition and we won! Fantastic planning project and WHA designed the homes for three of the four new neighborhoods out there, a must see!

The Las Portales project, a mostly architectural solution working with Jeff Chelwick, is a great, seamlessly integrated neighborhood in Santa Barbara.

Two Olson Company projects are fabulous neighborhoods now – San Jacinto Villas – maybe one of my favorite projects, is in Rancho Mirage and included community meetings, branding and theming with Daniela Mocan and unique architecture that stands out as a great age-qualified rental neighborhood. Oak Grove Walk in La Verne is a neighborhood that preserved some very nice oak trees so our clever site design planned around them for a community that feels livable and established from the very beginning.

5.) Do you have anything to say to young people who are interested in planning/architecture and want to join this industry?

It’s no secret that I am extremely passionate about the planning field. What other career can you do that enables you to be creative and use your writing skills, drawing talents and verbal presentation skills while working with great clients to create wonderful neighborhoods and communities for people to live, work, play and enjoy life!

I have worked in the planning world almost 40 years! I’ve been in the public sector, in the private sector with a pure planning firm, a planning/engineering firm and now in a planning/architecture firm. I think this is the best because we get to work with the architects to design in the third dimension – understanding all the spatial relationships needed to create great spaces.

6.) As a woman in a primarily male-dominated field, what are your suggestions to young women who wish to excel in their careers?

I have 3 children – all boys and I’ve always worked mostly with men. It hasn’t been a bad thing but I feel it’s changing. I believe there is a great movement of women in this field and we are tremendously valuable to the development industry. My recommendation is to gain knowledge (of as much of the industry as you can), use intuitive people/communication skills (to listen, bring design and consensus) and provide design perseverance (balance the goals of the client with development realities) are key factors for everyone in this industry but can be especially effective from a women’s perspective.

The statistics are showing more women are making the decisions when it comes to home buying, so we are ever so valuable and needed in the architecture and planning field, to get it right.

7.) What do you do in your free time?

My life has changed dramatically in the last few years, but I have my three boys – Collin who married last year (so now I have my first daughter!) and has my grand dog whom I adore; my twins Matt and Taylor (who are both working in our industry doing land acquisition – Matt is at The Olson Company and Taylor recently took a position with Meritage Land Company). Taylor is getting married next year and Matt is taking his time. I love them dearly and we have great fun golfing, beach going and swimming, wake boarding when we can, and now that it’s football season, we go to all the USC home games and some away games that we travel to! I love to go to zumba, love to cook (because I also love to eat!), I enjoy fun crafting projects and thoroughly love spending time with my family and friends! I’d like to do more traveling, maybe learn to scuba dive and paddle board, take a ceramics class and maybe do some painting. Overall, life is very good!