For immediate release: August 4, 2005

Planner, ski-industry leader Bill Kane returns to Design Workshop

ASPEN, COLORADO — William G. Kane, former principal and partner at Design Workshop, has announced his intention to return to the firm on a special-projects basis beginning in October.

“I am returning to the world of design and planning in order to pursue a broader array of planning projects,” Kane said recently. He anticipates these will include land conservancy and urban planning, both public- and private-sector planning for mountain resort communities, strategic capital planning for ski-area operators and conservation-based development with a growth-management focus. He will also mentor young Design Workshop staff and support the firm’s business operations. He will be working in a part-time capacity, which will give him and his wife, Carolyn, time to travel. His schedule could include work at the firm’s Santiago office.

Kane served as a partner and principal of Design Workshop from 1985 to 1996, when he left to join the Aspen Skiing Company. He resigned as ASC’s vice president of planning and development in July.

“We are excited by Bill’s return and the chance to have someone of his caliber who has a true passion for planning and the effective design management of the landscape,” said Todd Johnson, Design Workshop’s chief design officer. “We look forward to applying his business and planning expertise to all of our work.”

Kane earned his bachelor’s in political science from Pennsylvania State University and his master’s in regional planning from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied with renowned landscape architect Ian McHarg and completed a comprehensive plan for Huntington, Long Island, and a Ford Foundation study that helped in the development of GIS mapping. During his tenure as planning director for Aspen, Colorado, and surrounding Pitkin County, he developed the first growth management plan for the community, completed design and implementation for Aspen’s pedestrian mall and streetscape and helped to implement many of the land-use controls that now govern development in Pitkin County. Many of these land-use initiatives were pioneering for their time. Kane also worked internationally and throughout the American West and Alaska during his seven years as vice president in charge of planning for Sno-Engineering.

Kane has served as director of the Aspen Valley Land Trust and commissioner of the Colorado Air-Quality Control Commission and has been president of the board of directors for the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies since 2000. He was named a fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners in 2004. His previous work for Design Workshop has included planning and design for top mountain resorts, including Whistler, Blackcomb; the Little Nell redevelopment in Aspen; the village at Winter Park and planning for the redevelopment of Lionshead Village at Vail. Much of his most recent planning and design work has focused on the concept of developing sustainable tourism and economic development for the Aspen community.