Firm Vision
Cornelius Planning & Consulting is passionate about promoting smart development in the Lake Tahoe Region by leveraging our expertise and vast knowledge of the Tahoe and Truckee regulatory systems. The goal is to add expertise and efficiency to the planning and permitting process. We support residential property improvements, essential commercial redevelopment, economic vitality, access to recreation, water quality enhancement, and preserving environmental integrity. We are also passionate about addressing community issues such as traffic and lack of affordable housing.
We will use our vast knowledge of the regulatory system to generate innovative solutions which will help you achieve your vision, move your project forward, and minimize obstacles as well as costly, time-consuming revisions during the permitting process. We simultaneously serve agencies by assembling precise applications and plan sets and providing project management/coordination, thus reducing extra time required of staff.
Amy Cornelius
Principal Planner
Amy is an accomplished consultant with 16 years of land use planning, TRPA consulting, and engineering expertise, including a decade in the Tahoe Truckee Region. She has developed detailed knowledge of the permitting process and regulatory documents, along with insight into exceptions, allowances, and innovative solutions that help achieve client goals. Equally important, Amy understands the obstacles that can slow or stall permitting and brings strategies to keep projects moving forward. After years with small local firms and time on the agency side, she founded Cornelius Planning & Consulting to serve a broader range of clients.
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In the Tahoe Region, Amy began her career as an engineer with a strong planning component before transitioning fully into land use and TRPA planning. Beyond Tahoe, she has worked as a planner/civil engineer in other mountainous regions, producing complex engineering plans, conducting hydrologic studies, determining FEMA floodplain boundaries, developing watershed master plans, and authoring both a watershed master planning manual and a low impact design guideline manual. Her foundation includes studies in environmental science at Colorado College, post-baccalaureate work in Sustainable Engineering at the University of Auckland, and early legal research experience at her family’s law firm, Cornelius & Collins.
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Outside of work, Amy enjoys mountain biking, trail running, paddle boarding, sailing, waterskiing, and skiing across backcountry, cross-country, and resort terrain, as well as hosting dinner parties. She is also deeply engaged in community service, contributing to the work of numerous local nonprofit organizations, including:
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Tahoe Rim Trail Association - Board of Directors
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Tahoe City Downtown Association - Business Advocacy Committee
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Contractors Association of Truckee Tahoe - Local Government Affairs Committee, TRPA Subcommittee Chair
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Mountain Area Preservation - Board of Directors, Secretary of the Board, Projects Committee
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Friends of the West Shore - Board of Directors, Land Use Committee
Charlotte Empey
Assistant Project Manager
Charlotte brings over 25 years of leadership experience in high tech, spanning both startups and global corporations. Throughout her career she has directed strategic initiatives in new product development, marketing, and branding, consistently working at the Director level to deliver measurable impact. She looks forward to leveraging this expertise to support Cornelius Planning & Consulting in moving projects forward in the Tahoe Basin.
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Her background includes leading cross-functional teams on complex product launches, developing brand strategies, and guiding organizations through periods of rapid growth and change. Charlotte thrives in dynamic environments and is motivated by helping companies align vision with execution to achieve meaningful results.
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A North Tahoe resident, Charlotte embraces the outdoors year-round through hiking, swimming, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, bocce, and boating. When indoors, she enjoys experimenting in the kitchen and reading a good book.