Foley Planning Director Shawn Mitchell Earns National AICP Certification

FOLEY, Ala. — Foley Planning Director Shawn Mitchell has earned AICP certification, a national professional credential that places her among the planners recognized by the American Institute of Certified Planners, the certification arm of the American Planning Association.

The City of Foley announced the achievement on Oct. 6, 2026. City officials said the designation reflects Mitchell’s dedication to the planning profession and adds to the expertise already present in the city’s planning and zoning staff at a time when Foley is working through major updates to the rules that shape how the city grows.

What AICP certification means

The AICP credential offers independent, nationwide verification of a planner’s qualifications. To earn it, candidates must have professional planning experience and pass a comprehensive national examination. The exam covers a broad range of the knowledge and skills planners are expected to understand and apply in their work, from the history and theory of planning to plan-making, implementation, public engagement and the legal framework that governs land use.

Earning the letters is only the start. AICP-certified planners agree to follow the institute’s standards of ethics and professional conduct, and they must complete continuing education to keep the credential active. That ongoing training is meant to keep certified planners current on best practices and on emerging issues in the field.

The American Planning Association is the national professional organization for urban and regional planners, representing people who work for cities, counties, regional agencies, private firms and universities. Its AICP program is the profession’s best-known credential in the United States, and many local governments list it as a preferred or required qualification for senior planning positions.

From the classroom to city hall

Mitchell came to planning after a long academic career. She holds a doctorate in geography and taught at universities in Alabama and North Carolina for two decades before turning to professional planning.

She then spent three years as a senior planner for Baldwin County before joining the City of Foley in 2025 as planning manager. She was promoted to planning director in June 2025.

Geography and planning are closely linked disciplines. Geographers study how people use land, how communities develop and how human activity interacts with the natural environment — questions that sit at the heart of decisions about where homes, businesses, roads and parks should go. That background is particularly relevant in coastal Baldwin County, where growth must be balanced against flooding, drainage, wetlands and storm risk.

Leading Planning and Development Services

As planning director, Mitchell leads Foley’s Planning and Development Services Department. The department is responsible for making sure residents, developers and businesses follow the city’s codes, ordinances and other regulations.

It handles both the city’s day-to-day planning work and its long-range planning. The department supports a long list of boards and officials:

• The Foley Planning Commission
• The Zoning Board of Adjustment and Appeals
• The Construction Board of Adjustment and Appeals
• The Historic Commission
• The mayor and the City Council
• Foley residents

Each of those bodies plays a distinct role. In Alabama cities, planning commissions typically review subdivision plats and development proposals and make recommendations on zoning matters, while a zoning board of adjustment hears requests for variances and appeals of zoning decisions. A construction board of adjustment and appeals generally hears disputes over the application of building codes, and a historic commission reviews changes to properties within designated historic districts. Final decisions on zoning ordinances and many land-use questions rest with the City Council.

For residents, the department is often the first stop for questions about what can be built on a lot, whether a home addition or fence needs a permit, or how a proposed development nearby will move through the approval process.

Streamlining permits and rewriting the rules

Mitchell said her team is focused on several major projects.

“Our Planning and Zoning team is great,” Mitchell said. “We’re working to streamline our permitting process and align the Subdivision Regulations with the new Comprehensive Plan. Our next big project is the Zoning Ordinance.”

Those three pieces work together. A comprehensive plan is a city’s long-range vision for growth, describing where and how different types of development should happen over the coming years and how roads, utilities, parks and public services should keep pace. It is a policy document, though, and its goals are carried out largely through regulations.

Subdivision regulations govern how land is divided into lots and what infrastructure, such as streets, drainage and utilities, developers must provide. A zoning ordinance divides a city into districts and spells out what uses are allowed in each, along with standards such as building height, lot size and setbacks. Bringing both sets of rules into line with a newly adopted comprehensive plan is how a city turns its long-term vision into the day-to-day decisions that shape neighborhoods.

Streamlining permitting addresses a common concern from homeowners, builders and business owners: how long it takes, and how complicated it is, to get a project approved. Clearer rules and faster reviews can make it easier to follow the city’s standards while reducing delays.

Planning for a growing city

That work comes as Foley continues to grow. The city sits in south Baldwin County along Alabama 59 and U.S. 98, the routes many travelers use to reach Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, and it has added residents, neighborhoods and tourism attractions in recent years. Baldwin County as a whole has been one of Alabama’s fastest-growing counties.

Growth brings questions that land squarely on a planning department’s desk: where new subdivisions should go, how traffic will be handled, how stormwater will be managed in a low-lying coastal area, and how to protect the character of older neighborhoods and historic areas while making room for new development. The Planning Commission and City Council regularly weigh such proposals, from new housing to commercial projects along the city’s main corridors.

Having a nationally certified planner leading the department gives the city a director whose training and ethics commitments have been independently verified, a point city officials highlighted in announcing Mitchell’s achievement.

How residents can get involved

Residents who want a say in how Foley grows can follow the agendas of the Planning Commission, the Zoning Board of Adjustment and Appeals, the Historic Commission and the City Council, which are posted by the city ahead of meetings. Public hearings on rezonings, subdivisions and changes to the city’s ordinances are a key opportunity to comment.

As the city revises its subdivision regulations and moves on to the zoning ordinance, those updates are expected to come before city boards for review. Questions about permits, zoning or development rules can be directed to the City of Foley’s Planning and Development Services Department.