Burris Planning Group
Helping communities thrive.
Design intelligence. Strategic clarity. Civic leadership.
City & Regional Planning | Leadership Development | Community Visioning
Burris Planning Group
Helping communities thrive.
We bring design intelligence, strategic clarity, and civic leadership to help communities and agencies navigate complexity, balance growth with resilience, and build communities that last.
We help communities face today's challenges with clarity and resilience. Our services combine planning, strategy, and civic leadership to deliver outcomes that last.
We shape land use, transportation, housing, and conservation policies that align community values with long-term resilience.
Strong communities need strong institutions. We help governments build the organizational systems, leadership capacity, and strategic alignment needed to deliver on promises.
We design processes that bring residents, stakeholders, and decision-makers together in dialogue, ensuring plans reflect the voices of those most impacted.
Before founding Burris Planning Group, our principal guided award-winning projects that reshaped communities across California.
Transforming an established suburb to have an urban core, accommodating 25,000 new households and 32,000 new jobs, reducing VMT and GHG emissions, and increasing assessed valuation by approximately $2.6 billion.
Placing sustainability, climate adaptation, and mobility at the center of long-range planning for a small coastal community.
Laying the groundwork for a resort community to evolve into a complete, four-season community anchored by a downtown core.
This experience shapes our approach - bringing design intelligence, civic experience, and strategic clarity to every project.
At Burris Planning Group, we believe strong communities are the result of clarity, creativity, and collaboration. Our founder, Matthew Burris, AICP, LEED AP, established the firm after more than two decades as an urban planner, policy maker, and deputy city manager.
The most enduring solutions don't come from siloed expertise. They emerge when design intelligence, civic leadership, and community values are aligned. That perspective drives our work with cities, agencies, and partners committed to building communities that can endure, adapt, and thrive.
Matthew Burris, AICP, LEED AP - Founder & Principal.
Matt Burris founded Burris Planning Group to integrate design, leadership, community values, and practical realities. With more than two decades of experience in urban planning, consulting, and municipal leadership, he has helped communities across the West navigate growth, conservation, and organizational change.
Before establishing the firm, Matt served as Deputy City Manager of Community and Economic Development for the City of Rancho Cucamonga, overseeing multiple departments and guiding award-winning initiatives such as the Etiwanda Heights Neighborhood & Conservation Plan. Earlier, he supported cities throughout the western United States as a consulting urban planner and served as an inaugural Planning Commissioner for the City of Jurupa Valley.
Matt's philosophy is simple: authentic leadership and practical strategy create communities that endure, adapt, and thrive.
The work led by our founder has been honored by peers in planning, design, and civic leadership, underscoring the lasting impact of projects balancing community priorities, conservation, and growth.
Recognized nationally for retrofitting a suburb for healthy, equitable development and increasing housing supply by 30%.
Acknowledged for innovative, cross-disciplinary planning and civic management and excellence in building safety and public trust.
Recognized for preserving 3,300 acres of open space while entitling a 700-acre walkable neighborhood.
Every community faces unique challenges. At Burris Planning Group, we help leaders find clarity, build consensus, and design strategies that endure.
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Prefer email? matthew@burrisplanninggroup.com