The esteemed panelists and attendees came from fields as diverse as water reclamation and high-speed rail.

Knowing their audience, they spoke sometimes technically of the advances their projects were poised to make in the coming years.

"We find ourselves in a kind of perfect storm right at this moment," said Kurt Christiansen, director of economic development in the city of Azusa and the American Planning Association's California chapter president. "This is a prime opportunity to rebuild and reinvent."

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Photo By Robert Rogers

Katherine Aguilar Perez, executive director of Urban Land Institute Los Angeles, makes a point.

It is with the aim of seizing those opportunities -- and synthesizing the sundry projects, plans and resources involved -- that the American Planning Association (APA) has been holding field hearings nationwide for its "Rebuilding America National Infrastructure Initiative."

The April 1 meeting at the Ayres Hotel & Suites in Ontario was the seventh nationwide and first in California.

The goal of the Rebuilding America initiative is to develop a new vision for the nation's infrastructure and identify specific recommendations for changes in public policy, funding and planning practice needed to meet the infrastructure needs of the 21st century, according to an association release. The series of hearings will culminate in the proposal of policy and practice recommendations to be presented at APA's 2009 National Planning Conference at the end of this month.

During the meeting, panelists discussed opportunities in the Inland Empire for efficient water usage and reclamation of waste water, energy usage, high-speed rail projects, and land-use planning.

David Siegel, co-chair of the association's National Infrastructure Investment Task Force, said that while the Obama administration's stimulus package and focus on infrastructure were steps in the right direction, research indicates that repairing and rebuilding infrastructure nationwide would require more than $2 trillion over the next five years.

"It (the stimulus package) is just a down payment," Siegel said.

Panelist Mike Zdon, director of the San Diego to Los Angeles via Inland Empire High Speed Rail Project, said a rail project linking the state's metropolitan areas from San Diego to the Bay Area would generate 160,000 construction jobs and 450,000 permanent jobs.

Zdon said construction could begin within a decade. The proposed line would have stops in Riverside County and Ontario. The political will for a 220 mph rail line, the nation's first, was finally at hand, he said.

"Before, the national dialogue for infrastructure wasn't there," Zdon said.

Katherine Aguilar Perez, executive director for the Urban Land Institute's Los Angeles office, said development was a process largely controlled by the private sector during the boom years, but that now planners and public institutions would have to play a more central role.

However, Perez cautioned, the new leaders would need to work hard to integrate the private sector and enlist public support for a fresh direction.

"Now the planners have got to assume responsibility in making sure we get this done right," she said.

Christiansen said the Inland Empire stands to benefit tremendously from infrastructure investment. He envisions a future of denser urban cores, environmentally friendly mass transit and coordinated "infill development," smaller projects that better utilize empty parcels within metropolitan zones.

"There's a fine balance there, between the environment and transportation development," Christiansen said. "And we can strike it."