The land planning and development process by its nature involves large expenditures of time and can be resource intensive for both the land development community and government agencies responsible for implementing land use codes and environmental regulations. The City of Tallahassee has a large number of departments who are active participants in the review and approval of projects, including Planning, Electric Utilities, Sewer, Storm Water, Public Works, Gas, Solid Waste, Public Safety and Schools. Ultimately, this means any land developers looking to build or re-develop properties located in the City are required to meet and obtain approval from these agencies.
These reviews and their approvals are coordinated and lead by the Growth Management Department. The department has always held the belief that the only way to keep up with the ever increasing regulations and land development is through deploying technology to improve processes, workflow and business practices. In May 2010 the Assistant Growth Management Director, Karen Jumonville, working closely with other members of City staff revised Growth Management’s role to be more that of a facilitating rather than a regulating agency. With this change in outlook along with the support of the project by the Assistant City Manager Anita Favors, this project now flourishes in an environment where change is welcomed and recognized as needed for transparency.
In 2004 a cross-functional team was assembled of Growth Management business process owners, Growth Management IT staff and Information System Services (ISS) Department Staff. The team began looking for ways to improve throughput time for review processes due to public concerns with the amount of time it took to approve new projects. They also sought to reduce the volume of paperwork involved, due to the space required for storing the mountains of paper documentation becoming untenable. Ultimately, the City sought to streamline review processes through the implementation of new technology and to use the Internet to facilitate electronic submittal of project design and paperwork.
