{"id":511,"date":"2025-06-03T22:16:37","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T22:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/?p=511"},"modified":"2025-06-05T14:27:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T14:27:25","slug":"denver-mayor-mike-johnston-taps-former-planning-director-to-return-to-job-temporarily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/03\/denver-mayor-mike-johnston-taps-former-planning-director-to-return-to-job-temporarily\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver Mayor Mike Johnston taps former planning director to return to job temporarily"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brad Buchanan, who once served as head planner in Denver and now is the CEO of the National Western Center Authority, will be the city\u2019s interim planning director while Mayor Mike Johnston searches for a permanent appointee.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5807862\" class=\"wp-caption alignright size-article_inline_half\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TDP-L-NationalWesternCenter091923-cha-740.jpg\" alt=\"Brad Buchanan, the CEO of the National Western Center Authority, is pictured at the National Western Center campus in Denver on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. (Photo by Hyoung Chang\/The Denver Post)\" width=\"5922\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TDP-L-NationalWesternCenter091923-cha-740.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"5807862\" data-srcset=\"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TDP-L-NationalWesternCenter091923-cha-740.jpg 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/TDP-L-NationalWesternCenter091923-cha-740.jpg?fit=310%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 310w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brad Buchanan, the CEO of the National Western Center Authority, is pictured at the National Western Center campus in Denver on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. (Photo by Hyoung Chang\/The Denver Post)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Johnston\u2019s announcement came after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/06\/02\/denver-planning-development-director-resigns-manish-kumar\/\">current planning director Manish Kumar announced<\/a> he would resign from the role this week.<\/p>\n<p>Buchanan served as executive director of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denvergov.org\/Government\/Agencies-Departments-Offices\/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory\/Community-Planning-and-Development\">the Department of Community Planning and Development<\/a> under former Mayor Michael Hancock. He was appointed in 2014 and left the post in 2018 to lead the National Western authority.<\/p>\n<p>In a news release, Johnston said Buchanan already knows the department and its team \u201cextremely well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis deep expertise in Denver\u2019s permitting and development processes gives me full confidence in his ability to guide CPD forward as we continue overhauling our permitting processes and delivering services to our community,\u201d Johnston said, according to the release.<\/p>\n<p>Buchanan will continue to act as the CEO of the National Western authority, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/06\/03\/denver-national-western-equestrian-center-hotel-city-council\/\">is overseeing a campus that\u2019s undergoing a major expansion,<\/a> while he leads the planning department.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\">\n<h2 class=\"widget-title\" data-curated-ids=\"7177604,7064550\" data-relation-type=\"curated\">Related Articles<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/06\/02\/denver-planning-development-director-resigns-manish-kumar\/\" title=\"Denver planning director steps down after 13 months in job\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tDenver planning director steps down after 13 months in job\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/04\/14\/denver-construction-building-permits-process-mike-johnston\/\" title=\"Denver says if it can\u2019t process construction permits in roughly 180 days, the city will refund developers\u2019 fees\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tDenver says if it can\u2019t process construction permits in roughly 180 days, the city will refund developers\u2019 fees\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/06\/02\/denver-planning-development-director-resigns-manish-kumar\/\">Kumar stepped down<\/a> from the role after only 13 months in the position, saying he had completed what he set out to do in the department.<\/p>\n<p>City officials plan to conduct a search for his permanent replacement.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.denverpost.com\/dp\/preference\">Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brad Buchanan, who once served as head planner in Denver and now is the CEO of the National Western Center Authority, will be the city\u2019s interim planning director while Mayor Mike Johnston searches for a permanent appointee. Brad Buchanan, the CEO of the National Western Center Authority, is pictured at the National Western Center campus&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":514,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions\/514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}