Tracey Arpen is retired from the City of Jacksonville Office of General Counsel, where he served as Deputy General Counsel and head of the Land Use and Environmental Law Department. He advised the City Council, Mayor’s Office and City departments on land use and environmental issues and litigated those issues in state and federal courts. Mr. Arpen successfully defended the City’s billboard ban and landscape and tree protection regulations against legal challenges. He helped negotiate settlements with billboard companies that have resulted in the removal of over a thousand billboards from Jacksonville streets.
Prior to joining the City, Mr. Arpen was a shareholder in the Marks, Gray, Conroy & Gibbs law firm in Jacksonville. He is also retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Florida Air National Guard, where he served as Staff Judge Advocate for the 125th Fighter Wing. Mr. Arpen received his B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Florida in 1969 and 1972, respectively.
Mr. Arpen currently serves as president of The City Beautiful Coalition, Inc., formerly known as JaxPride, Inc. He was co-founder and past-president of CAPSigns, Inc. (now Scenic Jacksonville, Inc.) and is a past president of the Jacksonville Community Council, Inc., Greenscape of Jacksonville and the Mandarin Community Club. He was a member of the City’s 2010 Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee and also served as chair of the State Attorney’s Select Committee on Environmental Crime.
In 1990 Mr. Arpen received the Jacksonville Bar Association’s Lawyer of the Year Award. He is also the recipient of the Lee and Mimi Adams Environmental Award, the JaxPride Leadership Award and the Distinguished Leadership Award presented by the National Association of Community Leadership Organizations.