How Planning and Zoning Software Can Improve Your Community
The future of planning and zoning is here. Planning and zoning software can give people new insight into what’s happening in their communities and can help them better understand what they can do with their properties. It can benefit your local zoning office, too, by saving you time and money and giving you more tools to work with when regulating development in your community.
Planning and zoning software allows real-time collaboration between zoning officials, contractors, and homeowners. Your office will be able to issue building and other government permits faster. You’ll be able to engage with the public online in a brand-new way. Planning and zoning software can help you offer interactive, geographic information systems (GIS) maps. It can help your office keep track of scheduled and past meetings, generate reports quickly and easily, and even enable online payment processing.
Provide Information to Contractors in Real Time
Isn’t it high time you enabled real-time collaboration between contractors, homeowners, and developers? With planning and zoning software tools, all stakeholders can connect to the system through their mobile devices to share vital information about community development projects, home improvements, or whatever it is they’re working on. Information will be automatically saved and stored in the cloud, so it can be accessed from anywhere. You can even send and receive messages through the platform.
Issue Permits Faster
There are so many benefits to speeding up the permitting process, whether you’re talking about building permits, zoning variances, or planning applications. Issuing permits faster typically means spending less time and using fewer resources on the job. With online zoning and planning tools, your office will be able to accept permit applications digitally and review them digitally. You’ll no longer need to waste time scanning documents into a database or duplicating applications for further levels of review.
You’ll be able to ensure citizens’ applications are complete before they can hit “send”. Your office will be able to receive and monitor applications online, and applicants will be able to keep track of the progress of their applications, too. Applicants will be able to upload photos, insurance documents, site plans, and more, and it’ll all be secure.
Engage with the Public Online
Status update features on planning and zoning software allows you to engage directly with the public through an online portal. You can post notices and upload supporting documents for the public to peruse. You’ll be able to easily generate a list of which homeowners live within the notice area. You’ll be able to notify citizens when their applications are rejected or approved, and you’ll be able to take stock of where public opinion is on suggested zoning changes and community plans.
Enjoy Interactive, GIS-Integrated Maps
GIS-integrated maps put detailed property information into the hands of the public. Users will be able to pull up detailed information about properties, including who owns them, whether they’re located in a special zone like a flood zone or a historic district, and even how far they are from other properties in the area.
Create Reports Easily and Quickly
With planning and zoning software, reports are just a couple of clicks away. You’ll be able to easily select the form fields and information you need in your report, whether you’re creating reports for review, payment, or some other purpose. You can download reports as a CSV or Excel file. You can even save the reports you use often as templates, to recapture even more of your workers’ time.
Keep Track of Your Meetings
When you’re able to keep close track of your office’s scheduled planning and zoning meetings, you’ll be able to process and approve applications much faster. With meeting management, you can review meetings that have already taken place as well as those that are upcoming. You can create agendas for city council meetings, board meetings, or planning commission meetings. Your office will be better equipped to handle pre-meeting requests from members of the public and you’ll be able to download all the documentation you need in a single convenient packet.
Enable Online Payment Processing
Citizens don’t want to take time out of a workday to go to city hall and file their applications in person. It’s not always feasible for citizens to pay application fees in cash, and who even uses checks anymore? With easy online payment processing, citizens can pay their fees easily and your office can collect complete applications without touching a single sheet of paper.
Everything’s better when it’s digital, and that goes for planning and zoning functions, too. Give your citizens the chance to engage with your zoning office online. You’ll never look back.
