Director of Community Development
Shenandoah County
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Lemuel Hancock is the Director of Community Development for Shenandoah County, Virginia, where he oversees planning, zoning, building inspections, and environmental programs. He leads the implementation of Shenandoah 2045, the County’s comprehensive plan, with a focus on housing affordability, farmland preservation, and landscape driven planning rooted in natural systems and regional patterns. Before returning to Virginia, he worked in New Orleans on redevelopment and land use projects, which provided a lasting appreciation for complex sites, incremental change, and king cake! Lemuel has extensive experience integrating GIS, fiscal analysis, and cross departmental collaboration to advance practical planning outcomes in rural and small town contexts. He is especially interested in translating long range plans into implementable policies, capital investments, and community facing tools, and in reminding people that plans do not implement themselves.
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New Ruralism: Town and County Collaboration in Planning
Saturday, April 25, 2026
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM CT
A Plan by the People, for the People
Saturday, April 25, 2026
3:30 PM - 4:15 PM CT