The strength of an office lies not only in the strength of the individual staff members, but also in their accumulated experience in working together on similar assignments. Callander Associates is composed of an experienced staff of landscape architects and planners who have managed all phases of park, recreation, civic, and urban design, open space, and greenway projects.

Peter Callander, ASLA
Senior Principal
With thirty-six years professional experience in both the public and private sectors, Peter has developed an outstanding practice that includes an impressive range of outdoor spaces. He has demonstrated his thorough knowledge of the design process from simple to complex projects. His qualifications include the preparation of master plans, design studies, park and recreation plans, trail planning, greenway planning, design documentation, and construction administration services for public and private clients throughout northern California. His ability to partner with clients, regulatory agencies, funding agencies, and stakeholders has been an invaluable cornerstone of our clients’ success.

A. Mark Slichter, ASLA
Principal
Since joining Callander Associates in 1987, Mark has developed a vast array of project management and agency processing skills required for working with the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the State Regional Water Quality Control Board. Within the heavily regulated San Francisco Bay edge, Mark has utilized these skills to successfully process and obtain approval for bay front projects in Richmond, Burlingame, and South San Francisco. His agency processing expertise is complemented by strong technical knowledge and enhanced by seventeen years of project and field review experience.

His park, recreation, public facilities, and waterfront projects at Callander Associates include neighborhood, community, and regional sites. While developing design alternatives sensitive to existing environmental conditions, Mark has maintained project schedules and responded creatively to the design program and project budget. His technical expertise in ADA and SWPPP compliance has proven extremely valuable to a growing list of public facility managers. Mark has overseen the installation of over $30 million in construction while at Callander Associates. His focus on detail, combined with fifteen years of professional design experience, qualifies Mark for contribution to all project phases—regardless of complexity.

Brian Fletcher, ASLA
Principal
Brian’s urban design skills and commitment to community outreach as part of the design process has made him an exceptional benefit to clients. Thoughtful and efficient preparation of design alternatives, creative use of quality materials, and sensitivity to neighborhood’s character have also provided for an endless supply of design ideas. His high-quality presentation graphics and construction document preparation are invaluable assets to our clients in exceeding and controlling community expectations.

While attending Cal Poly, Brian spent a semester in China and Southeast Asia studying landscape architecture and urban planning. He received several awards for excellence in the study of landscape architecture, including the ASLA National Honor Award. Brian’s professional experience includes a wide variety of landscape architecture, urban design, and planning projects. The Hesperian Boulevard Streetscape Master Plan, the Orange Memorial Park Renovation, Modesto’s five-mile long Virginia Greenway Corridor, and the Northeast Community Park in Galt are just a few of the outstanding examples of design quality, cost control, and high community satisfaction he brings to our clients.

Erik Smith, ASLA
Principal
Erik’s project experience at Callander Associates has involved a full spectrum of professional services from master planning through construction management. His ability to work closely with a client to refine the design program, to accurately prepare meaningful cost estimates, and to creatively respond with a quality design solution has enabled him to deliver a variety of projects. His knowledge of ADA, CPSC, and ASTM requirements on play environments has been essential to public agency and institutional clients in achieving compliance. The seven-acre Firestone Neighborhood Park in Sacramento is an outstanding example of Erik’s design talent and ability to stay the course within a project’s construction and fee budget and its community-sensitive timeline. The project also involved added tasks of providing for street improvements and close collaboration with the School District. It’s this kind of stakeholder collaboration that also makes Erik effective on multiple, concurrent project assignments, such as the four trail Half Moon Bay Coastal Trail assignment.

Benjamin Woodside, ASLA
Principal
Ben’s expertise in the preliminary design, construction document preparation, and management phase of complex projects such as the Burlingame Landfill Sports Park and the Bayside Park Rehabilitation is indispensable to clients. Together these projects have a construction value of over $6 million. These same design and construction management skills have been applied to smaller unique projects, such as the Giuliani Plaza at the Historic Hayward City Hall, Tillotson Parkway Extension, and the Shoreline Trail Project. Ben brings over seven years of practical construction experience to complement his professional design and project management talents. He is proficient with the regulatory permit process, design refinement, and the preparation of construction documents. His diverse background in project types has made his design and construction cost estimating skills highly desirable to public works clients. The flagship two-acre Southgate Playground in Sacramento, the Gleason Neighborhood Design Plan in Stockton, and the Lion’s Field Lighting Renovation are just three examples of the breadth and depth of Ben’s design and project management talent.