This aspect of the Department's functions can be looked at as the RESOURCE CENTER for assessing patterns of growth, predicting future development trends, monitoring concurrency, and maintaining land use inventories. The specific activities which are performed include:
DATA COLLECTION:
The Department maintains several databases which involve the collection, storage, and distribution of information pertaining to the physical, social and economic characteristics of the City. The types of data maintained include:
Population (age/race/sex/etc.);
Housing (condition/age/size); and,
Property (assessed value/tax base).
MONITORING THE CITY'S ABILITY TO PROVIDE ACCEPTABLE LEVELS OF SERVICE OF PUBLIC FACILITIES:
Development activities and changes in demographics are evaluated, and impacts assessed on the City's water service, wastewater disposal, parks facilities, drainage and streets. This activity is referred to as Concurrency Management.
CONDUCTING LAND USE INVENTORY:
Maintaining accurate estimates of how the City's land is being used (i.e. residential, industrial, commercial, recreational, etc.).
PROJECT TRACKING SYSTEM:
Maintaining computerized logs and data on all land use applications processed by the department.
POPULATION TRACKING SYSTEM:
Maintaining the City's Population Tracking System, which provides an ongoing current estimate of the City's population, and projects future population growth.
