Mayor Byron Brown today appointed Brendan R. Mehaffy as Executive Director of the City of Buffalo’s Office of Strategic Planning.
Currently, Mehaffy is an attorney in the city’s Law Department working on environment land-use issues, real estate transactions, as well as litigation. Prior to working for the city, he worked in private practice with a focus on land use, environmental and small business development issues. This included working with municipalities across the country in revising and updating their zoning codes. He holds a B.A. in economics from SUNY Binghamton, a Masters degree in urban regional planning from the London School of Economics and J.D. in law from the University at Buffalo.
Mehaffey is scheduled to begin his tenure as Executive Director of the city’s main development office on March 29th. His appointment came with the support of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, which is collaborating with the Brown Administration on its comprehensive reorganization of the city’s economic development functions.
“I’m excited that we found a person with Brendan’s extensive experience and excellent qualifications who was already working within the framework of city government,’ said Mayor Brown. “His knowledge of land use planning and project development was honed through both his academic and professional experiences and I am confident he will bring his strong work ethic to the leadership of this extremely important city department. As an attorney in the city’s Law Department, Brendan has been the city’s point person on several high profile projects, including negotiating with the county on the return of the operation and management of city parks.”
Mehaffy’s appointment is a central part of the city’s economic development reorganization effort, which Mayor Brown announced during his recent State of the City address. With the Mayor’s call for decommissioning the Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corporation and the anticipated changes to the city’s zoning code, Mehaffey will be the city’s main point of contact on all economic development activities.
“I thank Mayor Brown for his confidence in me and for giving me the chance to contribute to the city’s reorganized economic development activities,” said Mehaffy. “This is an exciting time in our city’s history with a variety of development projects changing the city’s landscape and I share the Mayor’s commitment to strengthening the city and building toward a future of increased investment and job creation.”
Image: BR file photo