Meet The Team
Holly R. Mattei, AICP
President and Founder
Holly R. Mattei, AICP, President, founded Crossroads Community Planning – the intersection of planning and economic development ‐‐‐‐ to assist communities in writing zoning codes, completing long range plans, and advancing economic development activities. Crossroads understands the driving factors of community and economic development ‐‐‐ transportation, zoning, housing, recreation, policy decisions ‐‐‐ how they interconnect and how they affect the way a community develops. With a unique background in both city and regional planning and economic development, the firm provides a strategic approach to restructuring existing zoning codes to create a user‐ friendly document that will promote quality, sensible development through an efficient and effective development process.
Ms. Mattei has extensive experience in regional planning and economic development, beginning with her time at the Fairfield County Regional Planning Commission (FCRCP). Ms. Mattei served as the Director of FCRCP for 8 of her 16 years there. She was an integral part of the preparation and implementation of the long-range plans for the county that included housing and infrastructure development goals and strategies. She also completed Rolling Forward – An Active Transportation Plan and Fairfield Growing – a local foods plans. Ms. Mattei also served as the Economic Development Director of Violet Township (Fairfield County) for two years where she worked on multiple projects.
Ms. Mattei has served on several boards and commissions including:
- Fairfield County Transportation Improvement District – Chair
- Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission– Transportation Advisory Committee – Chair
- Mid-Ohio Development Exchange – Board Member
- Fairfield County Housing Coalition
- Pickerington Area Chamber of Commerce
George Mattei, Jr.
Director
George Mattei, Jr., Director, has over 20 years’ experience in finance and real estate development. Mr. Mattei has focused his career on housing finance and production, particularly workforce housing. In his most recent role as Vice President of the Huntington Community Development Corporation, Mr. Mattei was responsible for underwriting and closing over $400 million in housing investments throughout the Midwest. This included developments in smaller city and rural areas such as Wheeling WV, Newcastle, PA, and London and Fremont OH. Mr. Mattei also worked for two separate affordable housing developers, one which focused on rural preservation properties. While working in the Development Department at Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, Mr. Mattei worked across the State of Ohio providing financing and development advisory services for developments. These experiences provide Mr. Mattei with a keen understanding of real estate markets and development patterns throughout Ohio.
Mr. Mattei has a Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from The Ohio State University. He is responsible for the GIS mapping efforts of Crossroads and assists in civic engagement efforts. He is heavily engaged in drafting text for Crossroads’ comprehensive plans and provides support in data analysis.
Ben Harder
Planner
Ben Harder is a full time Planner with Crossroads. He graduated from both the University of Oregon School of Law with a concentration in environmental law and Denison University with a Bachelor of Arts in environmental studies and political science. Mr. Harder's time spent in Oregon provided him worthwhile experiences within the state's robust land-use and zoning systems as a legal intern with LandWatch Lane County - an organization dedicated to advocating for Oregon's rural lands - and the League of Oregon Cities - an organization dedicated to strengthening city governance. Before joining Crossroads, Mr. Harder worked in corporate transactions and real estate with the legal team at Murray, Murphy, Moul + Basil LLP in Columbus, Ohio.
Kelsey Miller
Senior Planner
Prior to joining the Crossroads team as a Senior Planner, Kelsey spent her nearly decade-long career in economic development, community development and most recently, private development. She’s worked in a variety of communities from affluent suburban communities, socio-economically challenged urban communities, rural communities and everywhere in between. In those communities, she led initiatives in housing for all, small business development, business retention and expansion, business attraction, financial incentives and of course, planning and zoning. Her devotion to helping communities develop equitably while maintaining their core character keeps her motivated every day.
Andrew Bovenzi
Associate Planner
Andrew Bovenzi specializes in zoning ordinance updates implementing state-of-the-practice recommendations to meet the needs of today and the future. Andrew is a graduate of the Master of City and Regional Planning program at The Ohio State University. Andrew has his Bachelor of Arts in History with a minor in Political Science from Ohio University. He also studied law at both Ohio University and at Ohio State. Andrew focuses on providing staffing support to Crossroads, including research, drafting reports and updating zoning codes.
Tyechia Walton
Senior Planner
Tyechia Walton is a new member of Crossroads, recently hired to enhance the Firm’s staff. Ms. Walton has a Master’s in Public Administration and has been a planner in both the land use division and the community development division for the City of Hopkinsville, KY. She has experience with traditional planning and zoning reviews and presentations, public outreach and engagement and administering storm water and floodplain regulations.
She also operated the Lot Next Door program for the City, growing it from a small program to an effective means of remediating vacant, tax delinquent properties. This work included managing the acquisition, disposition and maintenance of vacant properties, evaluating lots for development suitability and interacting with the public interested in purchasing lots.