Townscape, Inc

TOWNSCAPE’s professional planning staff has diverse experiences and skills, with special knowledge on land planning, site planning, GIS analysis and mapping, biology / ecology, natural resource management and local culture.

Bruce Tsuchida

President and Principal Planner
Bruce Tsuchida

Bruce Tsuchida is the founder and President of TOWNSCAPE, INC. This Honolulu-based company is an outgrowth and continuation of TOWNSCAPE ASSOCIATES, a planning company that Bruce established in Massachusetts in 1976. Townscape Associates provided land planning and town planning services to New England cities and towns and to New England Native American communities from 1976 to 1984. As President of TOWNSCAPE, INC., Bruce is in charge of overall company business planning and management, marketing, quality control, staff mentoring, interaction with clients and with the community, and management of many of the company’s projects, both large and small. His recent planning projects include the Primary Urban Center Watershed Management Plan for the Honolulu Board of Water Supply, Community Development Plans for North Kohala and South Kohala, Hawaiʻi County; the Management Plan for Kamehameha Schools’ Honohononui Lands near Hilo, Hawaiʻi County; and the Mākaha Valley Flood Mitigation Study for the State Department of Land and Natural Resources. Bruce grew up in the town of Floral Park, Queens County, New York. He received a BA with a Major in English Literature from Amherst College in 1965, and a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1971. He has lived in Hawaiʻi since 1984.

Sherri Hiraoka

Principal Planner
Sherri Hiraoka

As a Principal Planner at TOWNSCAPE, Sherri has focused on watershed, natural resources, land use, and community-based planning projects and their associated permits and approvals. Recent projects have included the Heʻeia Wetlands Restoration Conceptual Plan; Waiʻanae, Koʻolau Loa, and ʻEwa Watershed Management Plans; Pūpūkea Paumalū Long-Range Resources Management Plan; the American Samoa Coastal Zone Management Program Section 309 Assessment and Strategy; and the State Water Resources Protection Plan. Sherri was born and raised in Hilo and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences from the University of California at Irvine. A graduate of the Master of Arts program at the University of Hawaii’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Sherri has been with TOWNSCAPE since 2001.

Gabrielle Sham

Associate Planner
Gabrielle Sham

Since joining Townscape in 2013, Gabrielle has focused on land use and community-based planning projects. Her journey and interest in community planning began during her graduate studies when she had the opportunity to work with the Kailapa Hawaiian Homestead Community in Kawaihae to guide the community through a visioning process and to develop a conceptual plan for a community resource center. She is interested in projects that seek to balance cultural and natural resource stewardship with perpetuating a way of life unique to each community throughout Hawaiʻi. Recent projects at Townscape have included developing the Honohononui Makai Master Plan for Kamehameha Schools' lands in Keaukaha on the island of Hawaiʻi; updating the Molokaʻi Regional Plan for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL), and developing several Resources Management Plans for lands in the District of Kaʻū on Hawaiʻi Island for DHHL and the County of Hawaiʻi. Other projects have included developing conceptual site plans for community-based organizations such as MAʻO Organic Farms, Hui Mālama o Ke Kai, Kalaeloa Heritage and Legacy Foundation, and Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation. Gabrielle’s most memorable work experiences are the opportunities to talk story with community members and to engage with the community and client throughout the planning process.

She received a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance from Tulane University, and a Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She also received a certificate from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance Program.

Rachel Kapule

Environmental/Community Planner
Rachel Kapule

Before joining Townscape in 2022, Rachel spent six years working for a non-profit organization managing roughly three acres of lo‘i kalo. One thing she loved most about her job was working with the thousands of volunteers from all over Hawai‘i and even the globe. She joined Townscape to continue to work with community and to learn the “back-end” side of ‘āina work. Rachel received her bachelor’s degree in Hawaiian Studies and her master’s degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Management from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She has begun working on projects such as the Environmental Assessment for the Diamond Head State Monument and a community-based plan for Pololū Trailhead. Rachel has also been assisting our non-profit clients through seeking new sources of funding through the State Grant-In-Aid application. She is excited to learn from her new co-workers through the many projects to come.