City of Evanston Includes Public in Reviewing Proposed Development Projects

The City of Evanston Planning and Zoning Division is tasked with reviewing all proposals and applications related to new developments within city limits. As part of the process, the division makes proposed development projects available for public review to create transparency and preserve the quality of life of Evanston residents.

Problem

To make the public review process less tedious and save residents time, the City of Evanston needed a way to move the review process online.

Solution

Using Konveio, the entire application and supplemental documents are uploaded so that comments on specific details can be collected.
Additionally, participants can fill out a quick survey to provide general feedback on the project, focusing on specific areas of concern for the city.
To ensure transparency and reduce repetitive comments, all comments are made visible to the public, which fosters interaction with previous comments left by other participants through responses or up/down-voting.
Users leave their comments directly on top of the text it relates to, cutting down on the time it takes to track and process comments.
To help participants better understand what has been proposed, the plans contain 3D renderings, zoomable drawings, and Google Street views as overlays on top of the PDFs.
The public has the option to stay up-to-date on the project through an email sign-up feature.

Impact

Konveio provides a streamlined process for the City of Evanston to gather and review public comments. Prior to using Konveio, staff had to gather comments through emails, in-person visits and phone calls—a tedious and time-consuming task. “The main feature of document commenting is very useful. Being able to see specifically where there is a comment and then being able to see what documents have been commented on helps us to figure out where the biggest concerns are and what aspects of the projects need more attention or updating,” said Meagan J., Neighborhood and Land Use Planner, City of Evanston.

With the ability to quickly and easily create reports of comments from a single platform, Konveio cuts down on the amount of time that staff spend on obtaining and organizing feedback. And an innovative pricing model enables the City of Evanston to use the platform for free, while developers are paying for Konveio as part of their plan review fees.