Montgomery Planning is proud to have a team of planners who reflect Montgomery County’s rich culture. As part of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we are highlighting some of our planners working to craft a better future for our diverse county.

Seaside scene in Rincon, Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria showing damage to businesses.

When Hurricane Maria roared through Puerto Rico, Justine Gonzalez Velez saw how homes that had been allowed in areas prone to landslides and flooding were destroyed and swept away.

“A lot of people, a lot of families in Puerto Rico, lost their houses,” said Gonzalez Velez, who was in his first year of college at the time. “They lost their lives. They lost all the things they had worked for their entire lives – and that was a byproduct of bad planning.”

Even before the hurricane hit in 2017, Gonzalez Velez also had seen how difficult and unsafe it was to get around his community without a car. There was no public transit and no sidewalks, let alone bike lanes. When the hurricane left fallen trees and other debris blocking the only road leading to a hospital and stores, his community became isolated.

His family’s home survived intact, but Gonzalez Velez said Hurricane Maria left an impression – and sparked his decision to become a planner.

Justine Gonzalez Velez (left) at a Montgomery Planning outreach event

As a transportation planner, Gonzalez Velez said he works to help Montgomery County communities, particularly in historically underserved areas like the one where he grew up, become more accessible to all – drivers, as well as people on foot, on bikes, and in wheelchairs.

He reviews submitted plans, ranging from home additions to new subdivisions and shopping centers, to ensure they would allow everyone to access the area and move through it safely and efficiently. Sometimes that means requiring new construction to come with wider sidewalks, new crosswalks, more bike lanes, or measures to mitigate the additional vehicle traffic that development will bring.

He said he also works to empower residents to participate in the planning process, especially when decisions are being made about their communities.

“My vision,” he said, “is always centered on how can we serve all people?”

Gonzalez Velez, 26, said he traces his driving interest in equity and mobility to his childhood in Camuy, a rural town where the poverty rate is 39%.

“We all knew each other,” he said. “My family lives literally where the road ends in the mountains.”

He grew up the second of four children, with a mother who worked in stores and a father who is an elementary and middle school P.E. teacher. He said his parents stressed the importance of helping people less fortunate – a lesson engrained in their Hispanic culture.

“We care for each other,” he said. “If there’s someone who doesn’t have anything, we always share the things we have, even if we don’t have a lot of things to give…Growing up, I always looked for ways to give back to my community.”

While earning his master’s degree in planning from Virginia Tech, Gonzalez Velez interned in transportation planning for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and worked in government affairs for the Federal Highway Administration.

He joined Montgomery Planning, he said, because its reputation for prioritizing equity and mobility for all people resonated.

He said he has seen the value of bringing his perspective to Montgomery County, where 20% of the population identifies as Hispanic. As part of Montgomery Planning’s public outreach team on master plans, including in Germantown, Clarksburg, and Damascus, he has seen how Spanish-speaking residents open up when talking to him in their first language.

“I want them to feel more encouraged and confident to speak their minds,” he said, “because they know that they have a voice, and their voice truly matters.”