Sandy Springs Hires New Community Development Director
Staff Report From Metro Atlanta CEO
Tuesday, July 28th, 2015
The city of Sandy Springs Monday announced the hiring of Michelle M. Alexander, AICP, as community development director. She replaces Angela Parker, who left the position in April to become a vice president for The Collaborative, the city’s contract holder for three departments, including community development, through its public-private partnership.
In this role, Alexander will oversee the city’s planning, building, environmental, redevelopment and code enforcement functions. She brings more than 25 years of experience in managing these operational areas, in addition to considerable work assisting cities with development of comprehensive plans and development code.
“With our focus on sustainable growth, Michelle’s extensive background in planning and development of urban code will be a great asset for the community development department and the city,” City Manager John McDonough said in a statement.
Ed Shoucair, president of the Collaborative and partner-in-charge of the firm’s Sandy Springs community development contract, said in a statement, “We went through an extensive and deliberate search to find the right candidate for Sandy Springs. The city is going through an exciting period of growth, which is at the same time one of the most critical times in balancing the needs of business and community desires. Michelle has a proven track record, and her vast experience will contribute greatly in helping guide that process.”
Alexander previously served as a consultant to local governments in the area of infrastructure planning, comprehensive plans, unified development codes and zoning rewrites in addition to transportation planning. She also directed planning efforts for Pond & Co., an architectural and engineering consultancy. In working with local governments, Alexander has helped draft comprehensive plans for the cities of Peachtree Corners, Roswell, Dunwoody and Norcross.
She worked with the cities of McDonough, Brookhaven, Decatur, Clarkston as well as DeKalb and Forsyth counties in zoning code development. Alexander previously served as development director in the city of Chamblee, and was responsible for guiding planning initiatives for the cities of Norcross, Peachtree Corners, Chamblee and Clarkston.
Alexander holds a bachelor’s degree from the University ofWisconsin at Madison and Friedrich Wilhelm Universität in Bonn, Germany, with a double major in political science and German. She earned her master’s degree in development studies at Cornell University, and completed an all but dissertation Ph.D. in development studies; community and regional development; and city and regional planning from Cornell. Alexander is a member of the American Planning Association’s Georgia chapter.
