South Huntsville Neighbors, July 2024

COMMUNITY LEADERS
© Best Version Media
My Role in
Huntsville City Hall
By Shane Davis,
Director of Urban
and Economic
Development
As Director of Urban and Economic Development one of my primary roles is to ensure
eight city departments within the Urban Development Division have the support and resources
needed to provide quality services to our citizens and businesses. These departments
include Planning, Zoning, GIS, Community Development, Natural Resources, Engineering,
Building Inspections, Water Pollution Control, and Economic Development.
In addition to departmental oversight, I also work daily with community partners to
bring development opportunities to Huntsville. These development opportunities include
industrial recruitment and expansion for new jobs, commercial projects, retail and residential
development.
In my role, I report to Mayor Tommy Battle, who provides the vision for our City.
Through his leadership, our team targets emerging new industrial sectors and works on
a State and Federal level to leverage the City’s assets. City Council also provides a tremendous
voice for my office. They provide insights about neighborhood infrastructure
challenges in their respective districts. In addition, Town Hall meetings offer valuable
resident feedback to help guide our efforts for specific areas of the City.
Huntsville remains in a high growth mode, and the most challenging part of my job
is time management. We routinely are working 25-30 new projects ranging from new
industry recruitment, existing industry expansions, commercial/retail opportunities, and
general redevelopment projects throughout the city. In addition, my Urban Development
staff, a three-person team, also works to manage and implement the City’s 10-Year Capital
Improvement Plan.
With a sharp eye on economic development, our team addresses future challenges in infrastructure
and workforce. For most people, when you think about infrastructure investments,
you think roads. While our transportation system investments are at the top of the
list, we also work with our partners on other critical infrastructure such as utilities, public
transit, air and rail services, housing, and other sectors that will impact Huntsville’s future.
This includes developing strategies to ensure we have a dependable and sustainable
utility infrastructure, maximized transportation options, and a safe and reliable system
for citizens to remain mobile (not just from a car standpoint).
On workforce, we must continue to invest in projects that build upon the great quality of
life that Huntsville enjoys. These investments, along with an affordable housing strategy,
will continue to provide a quality workforce that our corporate citizens can have confidence.
I am most proud of how we have diversified our economy over the past several years.
This work has provided an abundance of job advancement opportunities for our citizens.
As I tell our staff, our mission is to make a positive impact on someone that we may
never meet. When we are successful in that regard, we provide a lasting impact to an
individual or family. That creates a ripple effect that shows up in our neighborhoods, our
schools, and local businesses from new revenues being infused across the community
from these job opportunities.
I absolutely love this community. Our mandate is to continue to make the best version
of Huntsville possible. The City works daily to make the right decisions and investments
that ensures a strong economy providing opportunities for our citizens and business and
a high quality of life for those who chose to call Huntsville home. Continued growth
and focus in sectors such as cyber security, life sciences, energy, and music are great examples
of how we are shaping Huntsville’s future. Outside of the industrial sectors, focus
on new growth corridors open the opportunity for an increased tax base.
However, more importantly, we continue working in our existing neighborhoods and
commercial corridors to ensure they remain healthy through redevelopment and new development
projects. The most rewarding part of this job is seeing the excitement from the
community on how Huntsville has transformed in recent years. This validation affirms
that our team is delivering growth and new amenities to all parts of Huntsville. This has
been and will continue to be our mission to Huntsville.
4 SOUTH HUNTSVILLE NEIGHBORS Submit Content at: