Culver City Welcomes its New Planning and Development Director Mark Muenzer

The City of Culver City is pleased to announce that Mark Muenzer will be the City’s new Planning and Development Director. Mark will join the City on January 30, 2023 and will report to City Manager John Nachbar. Mark will oversee three Division Managers, 21 other employees, and an approximate budget of $6.5 million. He will lead the restructuring efforts of the Planning and Development Department. This newly formed department contains the following divisions: Current Planning, Advanced Planning, and Building Safety.

Mark most recently served as Community Development & Transportation Director for the City of Redwood City, California. In this position, he led a multi-faceted department, which includes four City divisions: Planning, Building & Code Enforcement, Engineering and Transportation, and GIS/Analytics. Under Mark’s leadership as the Department Head, he managed several large-scale development and planning processes including updating the City’s Downtown Precise Plan, creation of a new 18-acre mixed-use Transit District, multiple large-scale residential and mixed-use development projects, an update to the City’s Housing Element, the completion and implementation of an organizational review of the Building & Code Enforcement Division, the coordination of ongoing multiple large construction projects, as well as directing numerous public transit, transportation planning and capital improvement projects.

Mark has an extensive background in his profession with other cities as well. His experience includes serving as the Community Development Director for the City of Menlo Park, California. Prior to relocating to California, Mark served as Director of Community Development for the City of Evanston, Illinois; held various management positions with the City of Chicago, Illinois; and served as the Community Development Director for the City of Countryside, Illinois.

Mark assumes this position following the retirement of Community Development Director Sol Blumenfeld and the City’s reorganization of that Department.