Case Study: City of Lafayette, CA preserves community character and boosts planning efficiency with Digital Map Products' CityGIS2

Using CityGIS to Preserve the Character of a Growing Community

The City of Lafayette, a 14-square-mile semi-rural community in Contra Costa County, needed a way to preserve its hills-and-creeks character while making planning staff more efficient and responsive. Senior Planner Greg Wolf proposed a GIS project to reduce time-consuming tasks like generating mailing lists, speed access to parcel and aerial data for public inquiries, and quickly identify overlay zones such as hills and ridges that affect development.

Lafayette’s Technology Task Force approved the plan and implemented Digital Map Products’ CityGIS2, giving staff shared parcel data, aerial imagery and a hills-and-ridges layer accessible in meetings via projector. Automation of mailing lists saved about 100 staff hours (~$3,500/year) and roughly $63 per applicant on average, while faster zoning checks, real-time maps for commissions, and planned creek mapping improved customer service and permit review efficiency.

City of Lafayette, CA

Greg Wolff

Senior Planner, City of Lafayette, CA