Hi there! 👋 Augie Fragala

[A M Fragala]

Hi
I am new to the revamped Forum, but have enjoyed it for years...
We have gotten several good leads on very sharp persons who have come to work for us.
I have been in private practice for more than 28 years. Practicing in Florida. Prior to that I was with 2 small cities; Fairfax, Va and Cary NC
Our firm provides urban planning and Public Involvement / Dispute resolution services throughout Fl and the southeastern USWe have 12 people on payroll and have had our own firm for 12 years
Our practice includes several small and medium size cities, expert testimony in condemnation litigation, community planning and sometimes we'll wash windows if there is a buck in it
My specialty is zoning and land use and I have written more than 20 zoning / land development codes
I hope to be able to chat with others here and also offer my advice if the opportunity present itself.
Although, my father used to say free advice is usually worth what you pay for it...nothing
We'll see
Regards
Augie Fragala

 

[Dan]

Hey Augii!

I''m in the process of writing a consolidated land development code for the small town where I work ... it combines zoning, architectural design, landscaping, signage, subdivision standards, infrastructure improvement standards and concurrency into one document. My goal is to keep it all -- text, charts, graphics and all -- under 250 pages, and in plain English. (Nowhere in the code do you see the word "shall," for instance.) Ever work on a unified development code?

 

[A M Fragala]

ZONING CODE

Yes, I have done several.
In fact as long ago as 1979 I won a national award from APA for unifying the development regs of Pinellas county and its 25 municipalities into one document.
It was considerably longer than 250 pps.
How can you write regs without the word shall?
Regards
Augie

 

[Dan]

Re: ZONING CODE

A M Fragala wrote:
How can you write regs without the word shall?

Simple. I use "must" instead. The word "shall" isn't used that often in everyday spoken English, so I avoid it. I even explain it in an interpretation section.

209.6 Mandatory and discretionary terms

The words “will” and “must” are the equivalent of “shall,” and imply mandatory rules and actions. The word “may” is permissive. In conjunction with a value or attribute, “may” implies permission to a limit; for example, “A freestanding sign may be up to five feet tall” means the same as “A freestanding sign must not be more than five feet tall” or “A freestanding sign must be five feet tall or less.”

 

[Chet]

Welcome back, Augie

Anyone named after a Wisconsin micro-brew is okay in my book. Unless, of course, the beer is named for you. Then you are a God!

 

[Jen]

Welcome back all wandering cyburbanites

augie fragala rolls nicely off the tongue just like muccapazza

Is Augie short for Auguste?

 

[Richi]

Amen Dan! Thou shalt be given great honors for banning shall from the book.
Ever come across documents written by an engineer that has completely lost the word will from their vocabulary? I get to edit some of that...even in letters. It's bad enough in regulations but "We shall be glad to join you fora beer" ?? It is so twisted.
Thank you, thank you for standing up for English.

 

[A M Fragala]

AUGIE

Augie is short for Augustine

 

[Jen]

Hi Augie
My husband and I named our youngest daughter August Jane, and once in a while we call her Augie, but Doug cannot forget a past coworker named Augie who expired at his drafting table at work, poor bloke. Therefore we call her AJ more than Augie.

 

[A M Fragala]

To have passed at a drafting table you and your husband must be about my age, 56.
Kids today work at CADD stations.
I still kep my trusty drafting table in my office. I prefer to use it and give the concepts to the CADD technicians to beautify
REGARDS
Augie

 

[Jen]

Well not quite closing in on the silver decade yet, I'm 39 7/8ths and doug is 42. But the drafting table incident happened back when he was a freshly minted Industrial designer at Herman Miller in the early 80's. Come to think of it - he still uses a drafting table but no longer at HM, now he is at Bissell and designing vacuum cleaners!