Santa Rosa adds drone imagery, new features to rebuild portal

The city has added new interactive features to its rebuilding website, from rules on setbacks to drone footage, in an effort to make the site a one-stop shop for residents rebuilding from the October wildfires.|

Santa Rosa is significantly expanding the amount of information available online for those seeking to rebuild their homes, ranging from rules on setbacks to new high-resolution drone footage.

The city on Monday added several new interactive databases to its rebuilding website in an effort to make the site a one-stop rebuilding shop.

The upgrades are a collaboration between local city planning staff and Bureau Veritas, the contract planning firm the city hired to help process rebuilding applications.

“It’s an unprecedented situation we’re in, and we’re finding that we have to rethink how to consolidate information and get information into people’s hands in a variety of formats,” said David Guhin, the city’s planning and economic development director.

The more information the city can make available online, the more easily applicants can answer questions themselves without having to visit city hall or make an appointment with a planner, though they’re still welcomedd to do so, Guhin said.

The new mapping features should be useful to residents seeking to understand things such as building setbacks from creeks, sidewalks and property lines, which differ by neighborhood, he said.

The maps also allow people to see what work is going on at parcels near theirs.

The maps, for example, show which properties have completed land surveys and what firms did the work, allowing property owners to coordinate work when possible, Guhin said.

Other maps allow people to track utility work by companies such as PG&E, which in some cases may require road closures, he said.

“Coordinating who is doing what where is going to get a lot more complicated as we go along,” Guhin said.

Embedded in some of the maps is high-resolution drone footage that was shot just about three week ago, Guhin said.

The photos provide detailed images that allow people to see the progress made in the area since the Oct. 9 Tubbs fire. The imagery will also allow the city to help identify damage from the debris cleanup through the rebuild process and utility trenching work.

To date, the city has issued 389 building permits, 266 of which are under construction, the vast majority in Coffey Park.

For more information or to test drive the new tools, visit www.srcity.org/rebuild.

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