Boyle zoning maps now online
Published 7:00 pm Sunday, July 9, 2017
- (Ben Kleppinger/ben.kleppinger@amnews.com) Paula Bary, director of Danville-Boyle County Planning and Zoning, says having zoning maps online will make things easier for many people involved with construction and development.
Development and construction planning is getting a little easier in Boyle County thanks to the addition of online zoning maps.
The maps were developed for Danville-Boyle County Planning and Zoning by the Bluegrass Area Development District, Director Paula Bary said.
“They’re on the Boyle County website — boyleky.com — which hopefully is going to especially be helpful for surveyors, engineers, appraisers, real estate agents,” Bary said. “So it hopefully is going to be helpful for a lot of people.”
Bary said BGADD completed the maps a few months ago, but they weren’t ready at that time to be publicly distributed.
“We’ve just kind of been using them internally in the officer just to make sure there were no adjustments,” she said. “And we have made a couple adjustments to them since we’ve been practicing with them, so hopefully they are ready for public use now. You’ll have to input an address if you’re looking up property zoning.”
P&Z Chair Jerry Leber said incoming P&Z Director Steve Hunter, who is slated to replace Bary on Aug. 1, has already been putting the maps to good use, reviewing them for his own education.
“He’s already on the job, so to speak,” Leber said.
Bary said there is a disclaimer with the online zoning maps — by law, the only official map is a physical one kept in the P&Z office. Boyle County IT Director Bill Nichols helped put the maps on the county’s website and added the disclaimer so people know the maps are not legally binding, she said.
“He’s been very helpful in helping us update our website, get our applications online,” she said.
The applications and other P&Z info online is a response to growing demand for online accessibility, Bary said.
“Now I think people just expect that,” she said. “People want to do research on their own and pretty much everything is at their fingertips.”
While the P&Z office doesn’t have the staff to provide so many online services, it has gotten help from Nichols, the Danville IT department and BGADD to help make it happen, she said.
“We still like to talk to a customer just to make sure that they have the information they need. But if you’re out of tow or you’re looking for information, hopefully now it’s easier to find it online,” she said. “… We still welcome the phone calls if somebody needs help or wants filling out an application … we’re still here to help.”
