Atlanta development leader resigns for private job

Atlanta Planning and Community Development Commissioner Steve Cover is leaving to work at a leading planning and design firm in the city.

Cover will join the HOK Planning Group, where he will be a vice president and senior member of its global planning, urban design and landscape architecture practice.

Cover, whose current annual salary is about $151,000, joined the city in January 2006. He led the ongoing effort to create a long-term transportation for the city and reducing the time it takes to get permits. Department officials have said it needs to improve how they respond to code enforcement complaints.

Cover’s last day will be Oct. 3. Deputy Commissioner James Shelby will become acting commissioner.