They’ve spent years helping the city, residents and businesses plan—new buildings, whole developments, zoning updates and more—and now Planning Department Director Barney Heath and Deputy Director Jen Caira are planning to leave Newton.

Mayor Ruthanne Fuller announced in an email to the community on Wednesday evening that both Heath and Caira would be leaving the roles they’ve held “with intelligence, professionalism, and grace for the better part of a decade.”

Heath arrived in Newton in 2016 with 30 years of urban planning experience, having served as planning director in Pawtucket, R.I., and as community planning director in Weymouth before that. Caira got her start in Los Angeles, earning her master’s degree in urban planning at UCLA and then serving as planning associate before she was promoted to city planner in the nation’s second most-populated city. She arrived in Newton  in 2017.

The two have guided the city through an urban transformation as the city has grown in population, its neighborhoods have been redesigned for the future, and demand for housing has skyrocketed in a community that’s already mostly built out.

Heath helped manage the city’s housing relief fund during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping more than 200 families avoid homelessness. He navigated Newton through the Village Center Overlay District rezoning effort that got the city into compliance with the MBTA Communities Act. He spearheaded the West Newton Armory and the Washington Street Vision Plan in West Newton and the creation of the Newton Centre Plaza. And he established the Newton Affordable Housing Trust and helped the city preserve hundreds of affordable housing units.

“He is a consummate professional. He is wise. He is also exceptionally kind. He is leaving our Planning Department and the City of Newton a better place because of his service,” said Fuller.

Heath will be continuing with his passion for affordable housing. He has taken a new job as executive director of Metro West Collaborative Development, which builds and preserves affordable housing across the region.

Caira was hired to be Newton’s chief planner in 2017 and was promoted to deputy planning director in 2019.

She has advised on some of the largest developments and policy overhauls in the city’s history, including the Northland and Riverside developments—which have both seen multiple iterations—and critical amendments for the Village Center Overlay District rezoning effort that came with a slew of public emotion and controversy but, as mentioned before, got the city into compliance with the MBTA Communities Act.

“Jen’s leadership in the Planning Department will be missed as so many have appreciated her empathetic listening, sharp mind and keen insights,” Fuller wrote. “Jen’s cool, calm, and collected demeanor and fine judgment made her a mentor to her colleagues and a ‘go to’ for answers to day-to-day issues; she always gave people her full attention. With everyone, Jen maintained a sense of humor and balance, even in challenging times.”

Caira is heading to Cambridge, where she will serve as that city’s deputy chief of planning.