Agenda - Planning Commission - 11/07/2002

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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I GIS--including toad edge, street cer~cerline, utility structure locations, floodplains, and wetlands--the main data sources utilized by the building and zoning staff on a daily basis are digital orthophotography, lot area, parcel area, PINs, addresses, and property ownership. Minimum Lof Size Verification Gurnee planner Michael Pruisilla needed to check the municipality's requirements for'subdividing residential lots. Pmisilla was specifically interested in obtaining lot areas for several parcels and accessed them by searching the GI$ database using PINs. The search provided data showing that several lots within the village's corporate boundaries were substandard. This prompted the municipality to look into determining which residential lots within the municipality did not meet the minimum lot size requirements outlined in the ordinance. The staff was able to determine the location of substandard residential lots by using the GIS. In the past, this could have been a time-consuming process involving different staff accessing paper and digital resources in order ro pull together accurate information. In the GIS, the planner set up a quick query (a set of selection criteria that' is' built through a tabular select statement) and asked the GIS to locate every lot zoned R-2 that fell below a specified square footage, exempting uses such as planned unit developments and subdivisions. From the query, the planner could pinpoint two major areas within the municipality where the majority of these lots were located, a result of annexation by the county. The municipality is now considering adjusting the floor area ratio of properties zoned R-1 so new homes can be built on the smaller lots. Inquiries by the Public or Private Sector The GIS assists the zoning staff with providing answers to residents, business owners, public agencies, village staff, and elected officials. Most of the requests made are for information regarding parcel data, including zoning classifications, acreage, and services available to a particular parcel or section of the village. Residents typically need to talk to several departments in order to get the information needed for one parcel, or location in town. Although each department has different functions and responsibilities, they have common data needs. For instance, the maintenance and location of streets and sewer and water lines are the responsibility of the public works department, but the zoning staff also should.have locarional information. For example, a staff member in the zoning department can kccess the GIS to check the status of a sewer line or road and see if they 'extend to a particular parcel or subdivision. Often dines, other departments, elected officials, and the private sector look to the zoning staff for recommendations on siting a land use. The Garnet staff received a request from a private enterprise conducting research on the best location for an extended-stay hotel in the village. With a GIS query, the zoning staff was able to locate commercially zoned land of ar least 50,000 square feet located near the village's major transportation routes. Without the GIS, the zoning staff would have had to rety on a variety of information sources within the village, with staff people gathering the information. Notifying Property Owners and Tracking Variances In Gurnee, GIS is used to identify "abutter" properties (using a specific range) that need ro be notified for zoning review l l=-= I==t In the GIS, t~e p~nner ~eated a qu~ to ~care substandard lou zoned R-2. &v~al properNes did nor meet the minimum ~t requiremenu in Gumee} ordinance due to ann~aNon in the pomon of the count. Those substan~rd ~ are highlighted in the ma~ in GJS. . purposes. Furthermore, if the GIS is linked to a specific application, ownership and address data can be used ro produce mailing lists and labels. The Gurnee staff uses ordxophotography to look up variances. With. the dam stored in the GIS, zoning staffcan easily access information about ownership and leg~al descriptions for property, as well as information pertaining to townskip, street address, and L_J IIL_J J All lots wirhi, 500feet of the ?roper~y applying for the rezoning (in this case from R-2 ro R-3) are highlighted in the map. To notlj5, residents of the zoning/searing, a mailing list and [e=er can be generated for those in the 3