North Carolina Construction News staff writer
Durham has launched a planning dashboard to track data for development, an interactive website that includes overall trend data, population and demographic information, and an interactive map with tools to check the status of development cases, review past approvals, and research data and other information for parcels of land.
“This dashboard is a collaborative effort designed to wholistically provide data to our community, planning commissioners, elected leaders, and the news media,” said City-County Planning Director Sara Young. “We also designed the dashboard to share what we do, why we do it, and the potential impact of development projects in our community.”
In addition, the dashboard also provides details on different departmental work groups which covers everything from long-range planning to review of current development proposals, floodplains, building permits, development that is voted on by the board of county commissioners and/or city council, community engagement efforts, racial equity work, and a wide range of other planning functions. For each set of activities and information found on the dashboard, the department’s staff describe what it is, what it means, and why it’s important.
“We send out a weekly newsletter with all upcoming Planning public hearings and other public meetings to anyone who subscribes,” Young said. “We want our community to be engaged and informed about the growth and development of their community, and our weekly newsletter is a great way to receive the latest news.”