Property Notification
Executive Summary
Problem: Making address labels and mailings for property-related notification tasks is tedious and time-consuming - averaging a minimum of several hours per request.
Solution: Using a property notification GIS solution the user can click on a property and automatically generate a buffer zone around that property and generate mailing labels in less than 20 minutes.
Property Notification mailings are mandatory in every County
The property notification process makes citizens of the city aware of impending changes that may affect their property or their quality of life. The types of changes range from rezoning, to granting a Specific Use Permit or Variance, approving a Site Plan request, or replatting property into a new configuration. Any of these can have a potential impact on the adjacent properties, and the city is required to notify all property owners within a certain number of feet of the subject tract of the changes and any associated planning hearings.
Property notification is time and labor intensive
When a notification is to be sent, a staff worker must follow a series of tedious and time-consuming tasks to create mailing labels and mailings:
- Locate the property of the applicant who wants change of land use
- Research and determine the affected properties within specified buffer distance
- Locate the names and addresses of the owners of the buffer zone properties
- Print mailing labels
The seemingly simple final task of generating mailing labels for any given request, when done manually, averages staff about 3-4 hours to complete. In complex situations planners can spend more than 40 hours preparing and researching for a single appeal.
A Farallon property notification GIS solution reduces time, errors, and costs
A Farallon property notification solution will save hundreds of staff hours - real savings by using GIS to better manage this daily task. The notification GIS identifies properties within a specified buffer zone around that property. It then automatically locates names and addresses and then generates and prints mailing labels
Time from start to finish: about 20 minutes (versus 3-4 hours).
In addition, all notification lists are created on the GIS system, allowing a much greater degree of accuracy in identifying property within the required notification area, insuring that there are no legal notification snafus.