Celeste Deardorff
Celeste has lived in Lakeland since 1987 and served for 32 years as an urban planner at Regional, County and City planning agencies, retiring as Acting Director of the City of Lakeland’s Community Development Dept. Her passion was being a servant leader who helped to connect the dots in addressing very complex growth management issues at city, county and regional levels. This included significant interagency coordination with Polk Vision, Lakeland Vision, FDOT, Polk TPO, Polk School Board, SWFWMD and various state agencies relating to growth management; she also had to monitor and comment upon draft legislation at the State level and was a liaison for local and state planning groups.
In her work for the City of Lakeland she served on the Polk County School Board’s School Siting Committee, the City of Lakeland Senior Council, Polk Transportation Planning Organization’s Technical Advisory Committee, and the Florida APA Legislative Committee. She assisted with the City’s Neighborhood Association Council. Over her career she researched and presented to State, Regional, County and City boards and committees and councils as well as citizen groups on a range of issues including land use and development, impact fees, transportation networks, affordable housing, water and school concurrency, neighborhood revitalization and stability, public safety/emergency management, economic growth and interagency issues.
In her roles as Planning Manager, then Assistant Dept Director and then Acting Department Director, she managed budgetary, personnel and legal issues relating to the Department’s work in Planning/Zoning, Community Redevelopment, GIS, Housing, Economic/Business Growth, code enforcement and building permitting and inspection. During her work for the City of Lakeland, she earned certification from the FSU CPM program and graduated from Leadership Lakeland, Class XXIX.
A member of the American Institute for Certified Planners for 25 years, Celeste received her Master’s in Public Administration from USF in Tampa, a MA from FSU, and her BA from Colgate University. Her pursuit of lifelong learning includes completion of various course work from the University of Dayton’s online VLCFF program; she also graduated from a 3-year program for Spiritual Direction and has been practicing since 2018.
Celeste’s role as a volunteer has included the 2024 United Way Community Investment Team, UWCF Reading Pals, VISTE, Hospice House, Reading Pals, Reading Mentors for PCSD, and faith ministries. Blessed to be married to Tom Deardorff for most of her years, they are gifted by two children, now adults who work and serve their local community. Long time bicyclists, joggers/walkers, avid readers and Catholic faith leaders, Celeste and Tom continue to live in gratitude for the gift of daily life.
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Professional: Retired Urban Planner, 32 years, 1986-2018 including City of Clearwater Planning; Polk Co. Housing & Neighborhoods; Central Florida Regional Planning Council; Polk County Planning; Lakeland Community Development (22 yrs) – Senior/Principal Planner, Planning Manager, Assistant Dept Director, Acting Dept Director. Member Polk Co TPO TAC, PCSD Siting Committee, FAPA Legislative group
Work Focus Areas: long range planning; demographics, transportation/land use planning, current planning (zoning/regulation), capital/infrastructure planning & impact fees, seniors, housing, neighborhoods, education/facilities siting, legislative policy analysis, interagency coordination.
Certifications & Education: AICP (24 yrs); FSU CPM; MPA at USF. MA at FSU. BA at Colgate University; Leadership Lakeland Grad (Class XXIX)
Volunteer History: Reading mentor Polk Co Schools; UWCF Reading Pals; Hospice House; VISTE; Lakeland Rotary Club (Paul Harris Awards); United Way 2024 Community Investment Team, various church/faith ministries, Certified Spiritual Director/Companion, Polk League of Women Voters, and READ Lakeland.