James Anaston-Karas, MCRP
Planning Resource Manager, MSCW, Inc.

Jim Karas is a leader with over 25 years professional experience in public administration and advocacy, land and environmental resource planning, and project management. He co-leads MSCW’s integrated Planning and Engineering team out of the Treasure Coast office in Stuart, Florida, serving a variety of private and public sector clients with land use, master planning and redevelopment services. Prior to joining the firm, Jim coordinated the legislative lobbying for Broward County and coordinated growth management and special district legislation in the Florida House of Representatives. He also managed the mandatory review of comprehensive plans and land use amendments for water resource protection in Broward County and led the implementation of over $10 million in governmental partnership contracts for a variety of water management projects, while catalyzing real estate acquisition and developing land management plans for critical Everglades restoration projects. An active community and statewide leader, he served as a board member on the South Florida Regional Planning Council, and was statewide president of the Florida Association of Intergovernmental Relations, and is currently a board member of Sustainable Treasure Coast, Inc. He created and taught an undergraduate course in Environmental Planning at Florida Atlantic University, authored a thesis on high density, and is a contributing author to the Lower East Coast Regional Water Supply Plan and the Governor’s Commission for a Sustainable South Florida Final Report. He was a contributor to the Marine Industries Association Marine Master Plan. Jim attended Ohio State University where he received a Master of Arts in City and Regional Planning. He completed a study-abroad program at Oxford University, England, while researching town planning and urban density, and explored large-scale energy-efficient design at a field study of Acrosanti, Arizona. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Southern Illinois University.