When will my street get repaved? Are sidewalks ever coming to my neighborhood? What’s that building under construction down at the corner? These and many other similar questions are posed to Port St. Lucie’s staff and elected officials on a regular basis.
And it’s exactly because of these questions and the city’s desire to help streamline project information for staff and residents alike that the city launched a new online tool that will help everyone get the information they’re looking for.
“It should make it easier” to find information on projects, said Sarah Prohaska, assistant communications director for the city. The new webpage – www.CityOfPSL.com/projecttracker – will provide around-the-clock access to city information.
So, when residents have a question after City Hall closes or on a holiday, they can turn to the web to get the latest on whatever project they’re interested in. Prohaska said the website is more than a mere list of upcoming city projects. Instead, it’s an interactive tool that will allow both residents and staff keep track of projects of importance to them, whether they are public or private.
Private development – such as construction of a new fast food restaurant or shopping center – will be placed on the interactive mapping and will show at what stage of the process it is in. Is it pending approval? Approved? Under design? Under construction? All known information will be listed with the project.
Future development – like that in Southern Grove, the city’s jobs corridor – along with neighborhood signage, and stormwater management projects, are among the categories of projects included in the Project Tracker webpage.
“This just adds another layer of transparency,” Prohaska said.
Kate Parmelee, the city’s strategic plan coordinator, said the idea was sparked when it became cumbersome updating various departments and the public on numerous, intersecting projects.
While other municipalities have purchased software that helps them manage various projects, Port St. Lucie’s Information Technology team was pressed to create its own, unique programs to do the job.
“It wasn’t easy,” Parmelee said, adding that the scope of the software kept growing and growing. At first, it was meant to just be a database that could generate reports based on queries.
But the more IT played with the notion and the more staff got involved with their wish lists, the more it evolved.
Now, the public can click around on a city map and see what’s happening where and what stage it’s in. They can run a report that can be downloaded as a readable file. And, they can still pick up the phone and call City Hall or send an email if a more information is requested.
Staff, on the non-public side of the website, can drill down into greater detail on various projects and “get into the weeds,” Parmelee said.
