Benton County to welcome Bob Richardson as Community Development director 

Benton County is pleased to announce the hiring of Bob Richardson as Community Development director, beginning April 17. 

Richardson is a skilled planner and leader whose experience includes executing and improving land use planning policies and strategies for different local jurisdictions. He was a key contributor to the development of OSU plans including the Corvallis Campus Vision and the Sustainable Transportation Strategy. He also successfully led multiple amendments to the Corvallis Land Development Code paving the way for future OSU development.

Richardson has more than two decades of experience in land use planning in Benton and Linn Counties. He spent the last seven and half years as the land use planning manager at Oregon State University. There he provided leadership, strategy and expertise for land use planning activities and issues at OSU locations across the state. 

Prior to that, he worked for four years as planning manager for the City of Albany and nine years for the City of Corvallis as an associate planner. 

“After an intensive screening process that included two comprehensive interview processes, individual interviews with each of the Commissioners and a post interview debrief with me, I have no doubt that Bob is the perfect person to be our next community development director,” said Interim County Administrator Rick Crager. 

His references described him as a dedicated, hard-working, calm and collaborative leader. One called him “One of those individuals that you just want to work for… extremely thoughtful in his approach to local planning and makes everyone feel heard and part of the solution.”

“That’s exactly the kind of leader we need in Benton County to oversee important projects like the upcoming review and update of the Comprehensive Plan,” said Crager.

Richardson holds a bachelor’s degree in Government and Environmental Studies from St. Lawrence University and a master’s in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon.  He is a certified planner through the American Institute of Certified Planners.