City launches new interactive map

Morgantown launched its new interactive zoning map, commonly used by property owners, realtors, developers and contractors, this week.
The zoning map, developed by Morgantown’s GIS analyst Marvin Davis, allows people to find the zoning district, tax district and permitted uses for a parcel of land by just entering the address, according to Andrew Stacy, Morgantown’s communications manager.
The home of The Dominion Post, 1251 Earl L. Core Road, is zoned I-1, industrial, according to the new map. Clicking on one of the brightly colored zones brings up information about it and offers links to the permitted uses and relevant laws related to the zoning.
“The new interactive zoning map will make access to zoning information more convenient for users and decrease the steps to obtaining information,” said Director of Development Services Chris Fletcher.
“This is the first step toward improving the public’s interaction with the Development Services Department from a digital standpoint.”
The interactive zoning map is just the first of many GIS-related projects the city has planned for the next year, Stacy said.
“Some of the projects under construction by the GIS Analyst and Development Services Department include: Historic district boundaries, neighborhood association boundaries; land use cases acted on by the Planning Commission or Board of Zoning Appeals, including variances, conditional uses and site plans; and enhancing the online zoning case neighbor notification process,” Morgantown spokesperson Michaela Martin said. “Some additional projects that include the Engineering Department are building footprints and the City’s paving project tracker.”
As the features are developed, the mapping apps will be published on the city’s website, Martin said.
The projects when combined will be known as the City of Morgantown GeoHub, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020, according to Stacy.
The GeoHub project will provide transparency and support the open data initiative, Stacy said.
The zoning map is available at http://morgantownwv.gov/555/Morgantown-Zoning-Map
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