1. GIS Needs Assessment Project Final Presentation Presented to: The Lower Adirondack GIS Users Group Presented by: Sara Frankenfeld fountains spatial, inc. January 11, 2006

2. Project Partners Town Planning and Zoning and Assessment Offices: Town of Bolton Town of Chester Town of Hague Town of Horicon Town of Johnsburg Town of Lake George Town of Lake Luzerne Town of Thurman Town of Warrensburg Warren County Depts: Planning Building Code Enforcement

3. Initial Goals of the Project Determine methods to: Integrate GIS with planning & zoning data Eliminate or reduce duplication of effort Enhance coordination and cooperation Upgrade technology cost effectively Position Project Partners to apply for a grant from the New York State Archives

4. Initial Project Objectives Zoning Administrators:Zoning Administrators: Determine a common set of needs between towns and flesh out a GIS-based permit tracking application. Determine best method for implementation (extension to ArcGIS, development of custom application, internet based, etc). County:County: Coordinate Z.A. application with County building and codes department and planning department. Determine methods for making data (primarily tax parcel) updates more streamlined.

5. Initial Project Objectives Assessors: Assessors: Figure out how assessors should move forward with GIS – migration to ArcGIS? development of a custom application? upgrade internet site? etc. Clerks: Clerks: Determine a low cost, “low stress” method for providing Clerks with access to GIS information.

6. Enhancement of Goals Improved Data Sharing capabilites (between assessor and planning departments, and between towns and the County) emerged as a key component of the project.

7. Needs Assessment Findings GIS is actively used (daily or weekly) by all of the project partners (combination of ArcView 3, ArcGIS, and Spatial Data Viewer) Most Towns still need to upgrade from ArcView 3 to ArcGIS 9.x Most of the clerks ended up not participating in the project Most of the assessors are using a small subset of ArcView’s functionality Zoning Administrators/Planning offices are using/would like to use a more comprehensive set of GIS tools. Continued …

8. More Findings … Half of the zoning offices are using PTS (foxpro permit tracking system); the other half are using hardcopy records Biggest goals of the zoning offices are integrating permit tracking with GIS and better record management Better communication and data sharing between the assessors and zoning administrators and between the Town and County Planning Offices and between the Town Planning and County Buildings & Codes offices were key desires of all project participants. Annual software maintenance costs are of concern to the Towns Continued …

9. More Findings … Existing Access project tracking database in County Planning Department is working well Existing FoxPro permit database in County Building Code Department is working well Existing GIS Resources at County level (ArcView in Planning office and Spatial Data Viewer in Building Code dept.) are adequate

10. Recommended System Custom ArcEngine Application for Assessors (and Clerks, if desired) Custom ArcView/ Access(?) application for Zoning Administrators Automated RPS Extract Electronic Data Transfer (EDT) of permit and project information between County and Towns Network between Assessors & Planning Offices at Towns

11. Implementation Plan Phase 1: Project Initiation Activities  Establish Project Team  Assign Functional Roles:  GIS Coordinator  Systems Administrator  Tech Support and Training  Application Development  Contract for Services  Plan for Ongoing Funding

12. Phase 2: Municipal Applications  Procure hardware and software  Develop applications:  RPS Extract  Assessors Application  Planning and Zoning Application  Install and Configure applications  Training Implementation Plan

13. Phase 3: County Applications  Modify Planning Board Application  Modify Building Code Application  Install and Configure Applications  Training Implementation Plan

14. Phase 4: Operational Use  Establish User Feedback Mechanism  System Backup  Professional Development for GIS Staff Implementation Plan

15. Phase 5: System Maintenance  Continued Data Development/Updates  Application Enhancements  Software Updates Implementation Plan

16. Next Steps Apply for implementation grant from SARA [Dec. 1, 2005]  Notification regarding SARA funding [June 2006]  System implementation [July 2006 – Feb. 2007]  Ongoing operation and expansion [Feb. 2007 ->]

17. Questions?