Hoover City Hall is located at 100 Municipal Lane, Hoover, AL 35216.
Phone: 205‑444‑7500.
Hoover [†] is a city of 84,848 located in central Alabama. It is located on the south side of the Birmingham Metropolitan Area roughly 12 miles from downtown Birmingham. The City is located partly in Jefferson and partly in Shelby County.
Hoover was incorporated in 1967 as a small suburban town, at the time not much more than one commercial strip center and a residential subdivision along Highway 31. In the 50 years since, Hoover has experienced phenomenal growth, becoming the sixth largest city in the state and the second largest city in the Birmingham-Hoover metropolitan area.
Today, Hoover is a maturing suburb with most of its footprint built out. Growth no longer occurs at the breakneck pace of the 1990s and 2000s. Most suburban, greenfield development now occurs further toward the periphery of the metro area. Still, the city continues to grow at a modest pace and possesses tremendous potential. Much of Hoover’s future development lies in older developed areas that are ripe for reinvestment and some limited undeveloped areas.
While there is great optimism for the future, there are challenges Hoover must address to reach its full potential. These issues include a lack of a clear identity, threats to revenue streams, need for a comprehensive strategy for growth, increased traffic and the decline of older portions of the city.
Development in Hoover has taken a largely suburban, low density form with most daily activities isolated from one another within an infrastructure devoted almost entirely to car travel. This is not unique to Hoover. This has been the development pattern experienced throughout the United States for more than 50 years. Over time US cities began to question the fiscal sustainability of “sprawl,” concerned that it requires a greater level of support by local governments to service.
† Future Hoover: 2040 Comprehensive Plan. 2019, hooveralabama.gov, accessed June 2020.
Neighborhoods
Nearby Towns: Homewood City • Vestavia Hills City •