Julie Ann Woods, A.I.C.P./MLA, is the Community Development Director for the City of Aspen. She grew up in the Detroit area and received her Bachelor of Science in Urban Planning from Michigan State University and her Master’s of Landscape Architecture from the University of Colorado at Denver. Ms. Woods has worked in both the public and private sector as a planner, historic preservation officer, and landscape architect. Her public work has included employment with the Village of Wheeling (IL), the Rutland Regional Planning Commission (VT), and Jefferson County (CO).

While working on her Master’s thesis on Historic Landscapes, Ms. Woods worked to place Denver’s Parks and Parkway System on the National Register of Historic Places, the largest urban park nomination ever.

In 1995, Ms. Woods became Central City’s first Community Development Director. Central City is one of three limited stakes gaming communities in Colorado whose growth and development included casinos and affordable housing. There, she was responsible for supervising the building department, historic preservation and planning services for that mountain resort community.

Ms. Woods arrived to the City of Aspen in 1997 and became the City’s Community Development Director in 1998. She is responsible for the planning, zoning, historic preservation, environmental health, and building divisions of Community Development. The department includes 16 staff members.

Under her direction, the community developed its "2000 Aspen Area Community Plan" which created the City’s first Community Growth Boundary, incorporated a "Greenfrastructure Plan" that identified important open spaces to preserve, and called for 800 to 1300 additional affordable housing units over the next ten years. The City also adopted its first set of Historic Preservation Guidelines, instituted the first ever Historic Preservation Contractor Licensing program in the nation, and adopted a new historic preservation ordinance specifically designed to address Post WW II properties. Currently, the city is struggling with an Infill ordinance that includes a substantial revamping of its 25-year-old Growth Management program.