At its April 7 meeting, the Redmond City Council approved Mayor Angela Birney’s appointment of Carol Helland as the new director of planning and community development.

Helland previously served as deputy planning director and began serving as interim planning director after former director Erika Vandenbrande announced her retirement in January.

“In her time with the city, Carol has shown she has the experience, knowledge, and dedication to positively lead Redmond’s planning and community development department,” Birney said in a press release. “She has provided effective guidance, advice, and counsel to the mayor, city council, and staff on community development and land use, and we look forward to her continued contributions to the Redmond community.”

Before joining the city of Redmond in 2019 as the deputy planning director, Helland served the city of Bellevue as its land use director, the release states. She has more than 30 years of land use, planning, environmental, governmental affairs and legal experience in local government and as a practicing attorney. As an attorney, she focused her practice on land use and environmental law, and during the 1990s, she served on the city of Redmond planning commission, the release states.

Helland and her family have lived in Redmond since 1989.

“I am humbled by the opportunity to lead the dedicated and talented planning and community development staff as their director,” she said in the release. “I am also excited to join the city’s executive team in service to the community where my husband and I have raised our children and lived for more than 30 years.”