P e o p l e
P l a n
D e v e l o p m e n t
UBRP 276: Instructor Nader Afzalan
Spring 2015
San Jose State University
April 4th, 2015
Sonal Aggarwal, Prescott Reavis, and Kenneth Rosales

People
Plan
Development
The idea behind the CitizenACT app is to
create a readily available online tool that
helps people understand and become
engaged in land use and development
decisions in their neighborhoods.
Many citizens are not aware about
zoning, natural safety hazards,
environmental impacts, or simply what
proposed developments or plans are
happening within their neighborhoods
or which could have an impact on their
neighborhood.
Trying to navigate through the complex
and expansive city websites waste
much of a person’s valuable time,
especially in large cities like San Jose,
California. Further, it is even more
difficult if planning information online
is not available or is only accessible
by physically going to a city or county
department office. This information gap
makes it extremely difficult to follow or
be current on the latest development
of a resident’s project of interest.
The lack of ease in gathering information
about a development is one of many
major reasons why most cities find it
difficult to have a high level of public
participation.
Creatingacomprehensive appcanthwart
these inconveniences by providing a
“one stop shop” of planning information
specific to an area of interest.
Page 2 Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales
I.Issue
Moreover, this app has the potential
to increase community participation,
community empowerment, and
representation, and thus, open up
the dialogue of resident perceptions,
inputs, and an improved connection
with a city’s planning processes.

People
Plan
Development
CitizenACTisaninteractiveonlinemapping
system that allows city or county residents
to look up parcel information throughout
their jurisdiction. For example, if a citizen
wants to find out about a development
that is going to be built on a property,
which has been empty for the last 10
years, then he/she can either enter the
address, APN information, or touch the
parcel on the map to find the current or
future zoning, Draft Environmental Impact
Reports(EIRs),communityinputmeetings,
decision-making,orproposal information.
People are busy working, running errands,
taking care of their children, filing their
taxes, cooking, or going to school.
Unfortunately, time is not a luxury most
people posses, which poses a problem
for cities who envision their citizens to
be educated, aware, and engaged in the
public planning processes that will affect
their lives, their family and children’s
future.
Residents want to be involved in planning
developments in their locales, but the
challenging question is how can cities
maximize the opportunity to educate,
empower, and engage residents in land
use projects and decisions? The answer
is a powerful, simple, easy to use, one-
stop educational and public participatory
application on land use developments,
CitizenACT.
Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales Page 3
II.Importance

People
Plan
Development
The Citizen ACT app goes beyond the
current zoning of a lot and provides
direction information of any proposed
development for a particular site. The
information includes the key dates for
public meetings or comments due for
processes such as EIRs or Conditional Use
Permit approvals. There are four ways
to search for the site one is interested in
finding information on:
1. Entering the desired address
2. Entering the APN
3. Selecting the lot on the map;
4. Taking a geotagged picture of the area
Figures 1-4 include examples of current
online mapping tools with similar
functions to the CitizenACT app.
Page 4 Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales
III.Examples
Figure 1 Online planning map for the City
and County of San Francisco, CA.
Figure 2 Online planning map for the City
and County of Los Angeles, CA.
Figure 4 Online planning map for sites or
districts with economic potential in select
cities.
Figure 3 Online planning map for the City
of Chicago, IL.
Images, in order from:
http://ec2-50-17-237-182.compute-1.amazonaws.com/PIM/
http://rpgis.isd.lacounty.gov/GIS-NET3_Public/Viewer.htm
http://secondcityzoning.org/
http://oppsites.com/?signup=true

People
Plan
Development
Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales Page 5
People
Plan
Development
Overall, the CitizenACT app will allow
its users to conduct a variety of
functions, including (Figures 5-10):
1. Site Identification: Effortlessly
searchforasiteorparcelofinterest;
2. Data Provision and Analysis:
Easily find and read plain English
information on the site of interest
ranging from zoning , development
history, and Conditional Use
Permit processes to environmental
documents such as EIRs;
3. PublicParticipation:Findoutwhen
the next public meeting is and
when public comments are due
for a development of interest; and
4. Defining Technical Language:
Utilize a glossary that
helps the common citizen
understand any planning jargon.
The CitizenACT app users are everyday
citizens, planners, businesses and
developers, it is for everyone. Many
citizens are concerned about the
development of their neighborhood
but there is not a clear one stop
resource which informs them what
potential developments are in
process. Professional and student
planners often need 24 hour access
to proposed development and zoning
information and this information is
usually held by planning staff and is
only available during business hours.
Page 5 Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales
IV.Function
Figure 5 This is the Home screen- Step
1 where the user can login or needs to
register to use the app.
CitizenACT has the potential to
be used by community groups to
understand and educate themselves on
a particular development and possibly
organize for or against a proposed
development in their community.

People
Plan
Development
Page 6 Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales
People
Plan
Development
IV.Function
Figure 6 Step 2 involves finding the area of
interest.
Search for site by
address or APN
Search for site by
dropping a pin
Search for site by
adding a geotagged
picture of the area

People
Plan
Development
Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales Page 7
People
Plan
Development
Page 7 Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales
IV.Function
Figure 7 In Step 3, one can choose a variety
of options from the selected area.
A new search can
be conducted
Once located, a pic-
ture of the site shows
up with general infor-
mation
Include a photo
of the site area to
help bolster a city’s
database
Get more detailed
information about
the site such as
zoning information
or process-related
information
Make a public
comment directly to
a city
Planning jargon con-
fusing? Check the
glossary
Filter the search for
specific attributes
(e.g. find residential-
ly zoned areas only)

People
Plan
Development
Page 8 Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales
People
Plan
Development
Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales Page 8
IV.Function
Figure 8 The “Know More” screen
Look for zoning
information
Look for
environmental
documents
Find out when the
next public
participation
opportunity occurs
Information
on height restric-
tions, acreage, etc.
Discover if the site
of interest is going to
be developedHistorical develop-
ments of the site
area

People
Plan
Development
Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales Page 9
People
Plan
Development
Page 9 Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales
IV.Function
Figure 9 The “Zoning” screen from the “Know
More” selection
Highlighted section
indicates zoning of
selected location
Search for other
Zoning information
Zoning information
of selected location

People
Plan
Development
Page 10 Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales
IV.Function
Figure 10 The “Upcoming Meetings” screen
from the “Know More” selection.
Pictures of public
meetings Date of public meeting
Details of public
meeting

People
Plan
Development
Hack the Hood and The Hidden Genius
Project (HGP) teach minority youth
about the technology industry (Figures
11-12). The mission of HGP is to train and
mentor undeserved black male youth in
technology creation, entrepreneurship,
and leadership skills to transform their
communities in the present and future.
Hack the Hood is an award-winning non-
profit that introduces low-income youth
of color to careers in tech by hiring and
training them to build websites for small
businesses in their own communities.
Engaging youth in the development of
this application will help to make sure
this planning application is simple to use.
If a teenager can figure out how to access
zoning and planning information, then
any adult should understand the process.
The time projected for the development
of CitizenACT can take between eight to
twelve months for its release. This time
includes :
1. A visioning process with the
development team and the city
planning staff.
2. Back end coding of the application
and the setting up of the server.
3. Developing the graphics for
the application screen and the
application icon.
4. Beta testing the application.
5. Refinement of the application after
Beta testing.
6. Final release of the application.
Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales Page 11
V.Implementation
Figure 12
Image taken from:
www.hiddengeniusproject.org
Figure 11
Image taken from:
www.hackthehood.org
The total budget would be between
$97,280 - $140,800 and does not
include the server cost which would
be around $720 annually depending
on the amount of data needed to be
stored.
The project team would include one
project manger and lead instructor and
four students to build the application.
The project manager’s annual salary
would be $83, 200 or $40/HR. Each
student would be a paid $15/hr and
work 20 hours a week.

People
Plan
Development
With the help of CitizenACT, queries
for zoning could be answered very
easily. This would reduce the number
of phone calls and people coming to
planning departments. The additional
time gained by planning departments
could be spent on researching more
on the best development and uses for
their community.
Citizens with a better understanding of
the zoning and planning process would
become more engaged and informed
on proposed development and planning
activities, which then has the potential
to help expedite the planning approval
process and reduce future problems
such as public outcries or negative
environmental impacts. If plans and
developments can be approved quicker
the economic, social and environmental
benefits can be realized for all while
enhancing the quality of life.
The limitations of CitzenACT is building
a webserver to host all the information
from planning departments. Ensuring
there is a constant draw of information
from the planning department files and
records to the application server may
be a key challenge for app developers.
There is also the issue of liability- all the
updating of information is coming from
planning departments and if they do
not update their files frequently then
the application data will be stale.
Page 12 Aggarwal, Reavis, Rosales
V.Implication
The difficulty of formatting data in a
consistent manner will initially limit
how far back in time information can be
accessed, as many documents are still
only on paper or in microfilm.
CitzenAct could be improved by having
the planning department streamline
their process to have all information in
digital format and minimize paper use.
If this strategy is employed, then this
would facilitate a quicker turnaround
of information to the application
as well as provide for a dedicated
high speed connection to CitizenACT
server so information can flow at the
fastest speed possible. CitizenACT
improvements could allow for the
submission of proposed developments
directly to city planning departments
and then vetted through an automated
system released onto CitizenACT.