School of Planning, Design and Construction

Harmony Fierke-Gmazel, MURP, AICP, is an Outreach Specialist and instructor in Urban & Regional Planning within the MSU School of Planning, Design and Construction. Gmazel is an MSU Extension Educator on their statewide Government and Community Vitality Team and is currently a lead instructor for MSUE’s Citizen Planner program, Zoning Administrator’s Certificate Program, the Master Citizen Planner Webinar Series, and Zoning Board of Appeals Online. As an Extension Educator, Gmazel provides select training workshops for elected and appointed officials across southern and mid-Michigan on Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, Hazard Mitigation Planning, Open Space Preservation, Roles & Responsibilities of Planning Commissions, Roles of Downtown Development Authorities, Ethics and Engagement, Planning and Zoning for Agritourism, and more.

Over the past 20 years, Gmazel worked in the local, regional, aviation and academic sectors. Her work has been focused on community visioning, regional planning efforts, zoning administration and resiliency efforts including the formally adopted M-104 Access Management Plan (Mead & Hunt, Inc.); The Chippewa County Airport Master Plan (Mead & Hunt, Inc); The DeWitt Charter Township Open Space Preservation Plan (DeWitt Charter Township); The Grand River Ave/Michigan Avenue Corridor Study (Tri-County Regional Planning Commission); Greening Mid-Michigan Poster Plan (Tri-County Regional Planning Commission); The Tri-County Urban Growth Boundary Study (Tri-County-Regional Planning Commission); and the Meridian Charter Township Complete Streets Ordinance (Tri-County Regional Planning Commission).

In recent years, Gmazel’s focus is on three policy areas: housing, renewable energy regulation and tribal land management and planning. She is on the national award-winning MSUE Housing Policy team that provides trainings on Inclusive Housing, Housing Equity and Planning and Zoning for Missing Middle Housing. In 2023, she served the Michigan State Housing and Development Authority as a facilitator in a series of Regional Housing Plan discussions in Detroit, Downriver Detroit, Ann Arbor and Lansing and is currently on the MSHDA Region K (Based in Ann Arbor, MI) Communication and Education Committee.

Gmazel is a co-author of the recent award-winning policy guidebook ‘Solar Development Regulation for Local Governments’- a partnership between MSUE and University of Michigan. The Guidebook offers planners and officials with sample policy and regulations for large and small solar energy developments. Starting in 2018, Gmazel served on the teaching team for a series of solar regulation webinars across southern and mid-Michigan, providing policy and regulatory guidance to officials at the township, city and county level.

As a member of MSUE’s Tribal Outreach and Programming Community of Practice, Gmazel hosts a monthly Tribal Planners Network Meeting that convenes the professional working planners from each federally recognized tribe across Michigan. The Network hosts national speakers, provides a venue for planners to share projects and challenges and lift up the work of tribal planning across many topics such as building design, roads, construction, housing, non-motorized systems, strategic planning, recreation facilities and leadership development. As co-host of the 2023 Building Strong Sovereign Nations program, which is dedicated to promoting tribal sovereignty, Gmazel facilitated a new program: Tribal Planning and Land Management that included notable guest speakers on indigenous community design, inter-tribal tourism efforts, conservation planning, strategic land acquisition planning, and grant writing.

Prior to joining SPDC as an instructor, Gmazel partnered with SPDC as a local client for multiple Urban and Regional Planning Student Practicum Group projects and has served as a guest speaker at SPDC for many years (Since 2009), mainly in land use law and environmental planning classes. She has also been a guest speaker at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids (2022)

She earned her Master of Urban & Regional Planning from Michigan State University and her Bachelor of Arts in Art History (with a focus on Historic Preservation and Anthropology) from Michigan State University. Gmazel also holds a Certificate in Charrette Management from the National Charrette Institute at MSU and is a member of the Charrette Management Instructor Team at NCI. She also earned a One Year certificate in Beginning Anishinabemowin Language from the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa & Bay Mills College in Brimley, MI

Gmazel is a current member and past-Chair of the Michigan Association of Planning’s Social Equity Committee; Currently serves on the Livingston County Master Plan Update Committee, the Hillsdale County Master Plan Update Committee; and the MSU Extension Government and Community Vitality Leadership Committee.