URISA 2008 Annual Conference and Exposition New Orleans, Louisiana October 7-10, 2008

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1 URISA 2008 Annual Conference and Exposition New Orleans, Louisiana October 7-10, 2008 Leading Louisiana Baton Rouge G.I.S. City of Baton Rouge Parish of East Baton Rouge Planning Commission G.I.S. Division Warren L. Kron, Jr., Coordinator, G.I.S. Project Development José E. Villalobos-Enciso, G.I.S. Division Manager Abstract Property information storage and retrieval systems for local governments are ideally intended to provide reference data for planning and research purposes. The systems should remain flexible enough to accommodate land use changes in the guise of new construction, demolition, occupancy changes, development, and property subdivision. This paper outlines the development of the G.I.S. Program for the consolidated government of the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge. The evolution of the G.I.S. Program to its current state is a milestone achievement of the City-Parish government. Originally, the City-Parish property information records were cumbersome and were declining in practicality for everyday use. These were physical analog records developed in the 1950 s and 1960 s, which included drafting film lot and block maps, drafting film wall maps, street and subdivision lists, zoning and subdivision files, and aerial photos. Records were manually updated and there was virtually no role for digital information technology in the process. Beginning in 1996, the City-Parish partnered with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (U.S.A.C.E.) to provide aerial photography, mapping, and application services. A needs assessment in 1997 brought together the interested City-Parish agencies and laid the foundation for the G.I.S. The old analog records formed the basis for the creation of the digital base map layers and database. In 2004, additional funding and assistance brought together the City-Parish Enterprise G.I.S. Today the Parish-wide G.I.S. consists of nearly 180,000 lot records with each containing more than 30 attributes. Aerial photography, building footprints, hydrography, soils, watershed, and wetlands layers also exist. The Parish-wide G.I.S. evolved from the needs of a dynamic process, a plan for the future, and cooperation between stakeholders. The effort has produced a public website for viewing maps and data, applications to assist staff in the planning process, and a powerful tool that has proven to be a valuable asset when important decisions are necessary. Analysis, models, and reports have become vital tools in the endeavor for precision. Cost benefits, conservation, infrastructure planning, harmonious development, smart growth, and public outreach comprise the many future uses of G.I.S. in Baton Rouge. 1

2 Introduction In 1947, in order to establish a more efficient and modern local government and to consolidate public services, the citizens of East Baton Rouge Parish (E.B.R.P.) voted to consolidate the governmental functions of the City of Baton Rouge and the Parish of East Baton Rouge. This created a single City-Parish Government, one of the country s earliest combined city and county-level governing units. As part of this combined government, the City Planning Commission became the City-Parish Planning Commission (C.P.P.C.). The Plan of Government mandated the C.P.P.C. to guide the future development of a master plan for the City-Parish and promote public interest in and understanding of that master plan. The challenges related to growth and development within the City-Parish required the study of major streets, drainage, transportation, recreation, and regulation of land use and zoning. The first step in the study was the mapping of every land use including residential, commercial, industrial and public uses in the Parish to determine land use patterns. The 1958 zoning map showed 53,689 acres in the suburban area, and 227,591 acres of rural area for a total of 297,990 acres in the Parish. Parish-wide maps were produced showing major subdivisions, residential buildings, schools, parks and playgrounds, streets, railroads and sanitary sewage facilities. During 1953 and 1965 there were 361 new subdivisions approved which encompassing 18,165 lots. To record the land use and zoning changes maps of the Parish were drawn on drafting film. This medium allowed planners to overlay different maps in a manner similar to the modern G.I.S. At the end of the 1960 s a drafting program was initiated to map the Parish at scale of 1:2400. In 1982, the local government was further consolidated, by citizen s vote, to join the City and Parish Councils into a single governing body called the Metropolitan Council. By this time, the growth of the Parish had outstripped the practical usefulness of the drafting film maps. From 1966 to 1986, there were 1,121 new subdivisions or subdivision filings approved by the C.P.P.C. creating a total of 55,717 lots. With increasing amounts of land use data to store and process, a less cumbersome and more convenient method of storing maps and property data was required. In 1988 citizens voted to amend the Plan of Government to require comprehensive planning. The preparation of the comprehensive plan further heightened the importance of having a centralized repository for maps and data. Then a visionary group of people proposed the development of a Parish-wide Geographic Information System. City-Parish G.I.S. Program Development On April 1, 1992, the Comprehensive Plan for Growth and Development, known as the Horizon Plan, was adopted. Horizon Plan Action Item LU2.D states: Develop a Parish-wide Geographic Information System. In the fall of 1993, the Mayor-President appointed a G.I.S. Committee. The initial G.I.S. Committee representatives included members from these City-Parish departments: Department of Public Works (D.P.W.); Emergency Medical Services (E.M.S.); Information Services (I.S.); Office of the Planning Commission (C.P.P.C.); and Police and Fire Departments. The first G.I.S. hardware and software was acquired in late

3 The G.I.S. Program would not have had such a successful beginning had it not been for the partnership with the U.S.A.C.E. An agreement in 1995 to provide digital aerial photography became the baseline for all graphic layers digitized in the next eight years. A second agreement in 1996 led to conducting a needs analysis for implementation of an Enterprise G.I.S. In 2001 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the City-Parish and U.S.A.C.E. to study 12 City-Parish Departments for improving the accuracy of existing layers and creation of new layers for the Enterprise G.I.S. Money invested in Parish-wide G.I.S. to date is estimated at $9.5 million. The most important aspects of implementation are: the creation of five (5) new staff positions at the Planning Commission; creation of an Intern Program at the Planning Commission; purchase of hardware and software; installation of a centralized G.I.S. server at I.S. for data storage and retrieval; staff training; creation of a City-Parish G.I.S. Manager position; and sub-contracting of work associated with creating the G.I.S. base map. Today, there are three G.I.S. Committees which steer the program, resolve technicalities, and educate the users. The Core Committee is comprised of the Mayor- President and City-Parish Department Heads. The Technical Committee meets regularly to discuss user issues and is made up by Inter-departmental G.I.S. staff. The Educational Committee invites all managers, inter-departmental G.I.S. staff, and consultants to learn new ways of working with G.I.S. and associated hardware and software. City-Parish Planning Commission G.I.S. Division The Planning Commission G.I.S. Division is divided into two sections: Mapping and Analysis and Project Development. There are usually three part-time interns from the local universities on staff as well. The Planning Commission G.I.S. Division maintains approximately 180,000 lot graphics with more than 30 attributes per lot. There are also about 50 graphic layers that the G.I.S. Division maintains. The data is stored in Oracle Spatial, and the G.I.S. software is Intergraph GeoMedia Professional. The Mapping and Analysis Division is responsible for all data maintenance and map requests. Some of the attributes that are maintained include: planning district, lot and block map, subdivision, property name, address, street, business, existing land use, future land use, North American Industrial Classification Standard, zoning, flood zone, city limits, and Metropolitan Council district. There are various other graphic layers which include conservation, fire, enterprise zones, industrial areas, police districts, railroads, voting precincts, and school districts. Maps are produced for internal use as well as for public requests. Thematic maps of the various layers and/or attributes are created regularly. Environmental planning efforts require the use of watershed and wetland data on which to formulate sound planning policies. The Project Development Section is responsible for data development, data acquisition, and all computer applications. Several INTERnet and INTRAnet computer applications which have either already been developed or are being developed are described in the following sections. 3

4 INTERnet Applications The Application Tracking System, a tool primarily used by planning staff, will also have a public interface available from the Planning Commission website. This web tool will enable a citizen to check the status of a Land Development Application. The basic information will be displayed as an Adobe PDF report notating the progress and current status of any individual application in the approval process. The Economic Development Website is a G.I.S. tool currently under development to search commercial real estate. A user has the ability to search using criteria such as acreage, zoning, location, and price. The search engine finds available property from a Commercial Listings Database and matches them by address in the G.I.S. web map. In 2004 the Historical Land Development Website was launched to provide a web tool for researching growth and development in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The site was made possible by a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, and was awarded the 2004 Louisiana American Planning Association Public Education Award. Historic maps, photographs, and documentation are available to the public from this webpage. Also in 2004 the Internet Property Finder was launched and became the first G.I.S. website in Louisiana. This site is a valuable resource for the public as it provides a map and property details for about 180,000 lots in East Baton Rouge Parish. The website has won awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects, American Planning Association, and Intergraph Corporation. Most recently the Land Development Application Search Tool was created to assist the public with locating monthly planning and zoning cases on a map. This is the first venture for the Planning Commission G.I.S. Division to integrate Google Maps and data created from GeoMedia Professional 6.1. The site is a mash-up of Google Maps API and GeoMedia Pro geo-coding techniques using XML data updated monthly, with images stored in Picasa Web Album. INTRAnet Applications The Application Tracking System is an interdepartmental web application used to manage Land Development Applications. There are over 20 types of applications that are tracked in this system from the time of submittal to approval. A receipt system has also been integrated to manage monetary transactions. The integration of the Document Management System and the G.I.S. database will link official maps and documents to the lot graphics. Over 250,000 records have been scanned by Planning Staff since These records date to the early 20 th century. Once the coding has been implemented, planners will be able to retrieve documents from within the map interface. 4

5 The Planning Advisor is a web-based application to assist Planning Commission and Metro Council members in their decisions about planning and zoning cases, site plans, and subdivisions. Phases I and II of this project are complete and Phase III has just been funded. The scoring criteria include land use and zoning information, environmental features, economic factors, infrastructure, and smart growth principles. Legal considerations are also part of the scorecard. Long Term Projects Since its start in 1992, the G.I.S. Program for the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge has grown and evolved considerably. Today there are many users entering, updating, and maintaining data. Countless public users view maps and data on the Internet Property Finder Website. With this in mind, the Planning Commission have identified and initiated several visionary projects in the past year. The projects are described below. Green Infrastructure is an initiative to improve the quality of life for Parish residents. The project will determine networks of open space, urban forest, stream corridors, wetlands, and water bodies. The project goals are to survey and inventory large native trees on public property and rights-of-way; analyze their influences on air and drainage pollution; and determine which lands need to be reserved for an open space network. Infill Development is the preferred growth scenario indicated by the Horizon Plan. The project will evaluate vacant, adjudicated, and blighted properties to promote better use of currently developed land, steer new development toward areas with existing up-tostandard infrastructure, and restrain the rate of development of suburban Greenfields. Land Suitability Analysis will identify potential Brownfield locations by mapping potential sources of pollution with data from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and features captured by the City-Parish Planning Commission G.I.S. Division. Thematic Models will be used to create three-dimensional models and Hot-Spots. Specific projects include hydrologic modeling; grouping watersheds by geomorphologic characterization to determine Stormwater Best Management Practices; identification of development trends and incidents to diagnose the Unified Development Code; Digital Elevation Models from U.S.G.S. contour data; analysis of watershed and stormwater runoff data. Conclusion The aforementioned changes in the form of government in the City of Baton Rouge and the Parish of East Baton Rouge are remarkable examples of the peoples perception that integrating efforts produce better results. In this context, the conceptualization and implementation of a Parish-wide Enterprise Geographic Information System for the City- Parish is a confirmation of that premise. Proven benefits of the Enterprise G.I.S. are: the support for decision-making to become more effective, productivity in providing public information, efficiency in updating maps, tracking and monitoring growth and 5

6 development over time, aggregation of data for specific sub-areas, performance and display of different types of professional analysis and modeling, and policy formulation. After 15 years of building and maintaining a Parish-wide G.I.S. we have learned several distinct lessons: The Enterprise G.I.S. offers a framework where temporal and spatial information can be stored, gathered, transferred, and analyzed. Enterprise G.I.S. has become an important tool in the urban planning of E.B.R.P. Most importantly is that cooperation and commitment between agencies is necessary to build the enterprise G.I.S. Collaboration between agencies could be based on continuous information flow where stakeholders can form and share information. Key factors to reach the cooperation and agreement between federal, state, and City-Parish agencies have been the support of successive Mayor-Presidents that have presided over City-Parish government in the last 20 years. Strong leadership is necessary to succeed at an enterprise level. The heart of governance of the Enterprise G.I.S. is the organizational structure that supports the participation of City-Parish agencies, namely the Core and Technical Committees. However, executive leadership from department heads is crucial for the success of the Enterprise G.I.S. In this context, the Planning Director of the City-Parish has been the spearhead. G.I.S. facilitates and promotes public education. One of the ultimate goals of an Enterprise G.I.S. is to provide the public with better information about government services, and to provide City-Parish authorities about the diverse needs of the public. In effect, the current state of the Parish-wide G.I.S. has proved to be an excellent tool to inform and educate citizens and facilitates the retrieval of diverse information. Start-up may be expensive, but accurate information is essential and priceless. The implementation of the City-Parish Enterprise G.I.S. has indeed been expensive. The fact is that providing accurate information has added value to the services offered by the City-Parish to E.B.R.P. citizens. The Parish-wide Enterprise G.I.S. after a long but successful beginning has reached a productive adolescence. Some of the challenges that will be faced as the program continues to evolve and mature are: to evolve with both the best existing information technologies in place and emerging specifications; to create horizontal and vertical integration for the use of geographic data within the City-Parish government, other governmental entities, and the public; and to develop appropriate applications that encourage inter-agency and public participation. 6