Filling Lakeville's vacant town planner position is ‘sigh of relief’

LAKEVILLE — Lakeville’s new town planner looks to use her 13 years of civil engineering experience and love for municipal work to bring expertise to the planning department, and be a resource for the community.

As town planner, Stephanie Crampton will work with Lakeville’s boards and officials to implement and oversee developments in town. Filling the role has been a long time coming, Town Administrator Andrew Sukeforth said.

Crampton, a New Bedford resident, began working for the town this week, and has attended her first joint meeting with the planning board and Select Board. She said she is excited to bring her outsider perspective and years of experience in long-term municipal development to Lakeville.

Crampton worked as a civil engineer for the city of New Bedford for the past 13 years. She worked on project designs for private developments and the municipality. She said she worked within a number of departments and project focuses, but said she finds the most pride in her municipal work.

“The municipal ones were certainly a thrill, because as you drive through the city, you get to see what you worked on, and you know all the effort that it took,” Crampton said.

She said before coming to Lakeville, she wanted to expand what she does and get back into full-time work, as she had been working part-time after the birth of her third child. She said she applied for the Lakeville job since it seemed like a good fit for her municipal interests.

“You look at a little bit of everything — that keeps my attention span. There’s a mix of things you work on, and you get to see everything in a 360 degree view,” she said. “That's what I wanted, to stay in municipality work.”

She said she is particularly interested in focusing on grants. She said there are many unique grants municipalities can use — and overlap — to bring impactful projects to fruition without the associated costs.

“There's definitely potential for these projects and maybe things that haven't been thought of yet. As an outsider coming in with a fresh set of eyes, maybe I'll see what new opportunities there are.”

She said she will take time to ensure she balances economic growth and improvement in town, while maintaining the character of Lakeville.

Sukeforth said fulfilling the role with an experienced applicant has been a “sigh of relief.” The town reviewed about 12 applicants across three separate searches since March.

“It's been a long, tough fight to find somebody,” Sukeforth said.

He said Crampton’s expertise will be used in major developments like the proposed Lakeville Country Club redevelopment. She will also be the point-person for the state-funded Community One Stop for Growth grant— a program designed to gather community feedback to create a balanced economic growth strategy with the help of economic consultants. 

It's on projects like the country club — a 418-unit proposal on the golf course property  — Sukeforth sees the largest benefit to filling the role with an experienced applicant.

He said the planning department has struggled without a full-time employee with the background knowledge to stay on top of long term developments and grant opportunities.

“There's been a big knowledge gap,” Sukeforth said. “We have an administrator in there that does a great job. But there's these big projects that need institutional knowledge of how to handle those projects. It helps to have someone that has that experience.”

As she settles into her new role, Crampton aims to be a source for community members on all things Lakeville development.

When she worked in New Bedford, she would field calls from residents questioning the status of ongoing projects. She said it’s a part of her municipal work she grew to love.

“I love having the information and bringing somebody up to speed and giving them that knowledge. I like being that representative and bridging that gap between where projects stand and where the community is questioning things,” Crampton said.