The Zoning Overlay web application allows city officials and the general public to quickly view the overlay layers affecting any parcel in the city and to identify all of the applicable zoning regulations in one simple search.
Client: City of Philadelphia, Division of Technology
Challenge: The City of Philadelphia’s zoning map layers are currently maintained by the City Planning Commission. This base zoning layer is modified by several dozen zoning ‘overlay’ layers. When a building permit was examined for compliance by zoning examiners, the examiners consulted a combination of paper maps, a zoning map web application and the multiple versions of the zoning code books. The range of sources contributed to zoning decisions that were not consistent and transparent, particularly in the case of properties affected by multiple zoning designations and by multiple overlay districts.
Solution: Azavea created the Zoning Overlay web application to overcome many of these issues by providing a single web application that is used by both the zoning examiners and the general public. The application enables the user to quickly see which overlay layers affect any parcel in the city, supports common tasks such as measurement, scale and printing, displays both the existing zoning map and the overlay layers, and enables users to find a location based on either an address or an intersection.
Outcomes: Azavea created a user-friendly and sophisticated web-based solution that increases the transparency of zoning decisions. Zoning examiners and members of the public can now identify all of the zoning regulations for each parcel by performing one simple online search.