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Hurst debuts online service that gives census, zoning information by address 05/06/2001 By Veronica Alaniz / The Dallas Morning News
Learning the lay of the land has just gotten a lot easier in the city of
Hurst.
City officials are launching a new Web-based mapping service that can
run down the statistics of any address in the city – including 2000 U.S.
census data and local zoning information.
"It's really an ideal tool for economic development within the city and
retention of current business," said Frank Cangelosi, operations manager
of the city's geographic information system. "It's also a good tool for
the average homeowner and those looking to move to the area."
City Manager Allan Weegar said the mapping service is just one more way
for the city to serve the public.
"We want City Hall to be more customer friendly and convenient for our
residents and business community," he said. "Today people have access to
computers, and they need and want access to information, and that's what
we're providing."
The mapping information is available through the city's Web site,
www.ci.hurst.tx.us. A link sends users straight to the interactive maps.
Once in the program, users are prompted to enter an address, causing a
map of the location to pop up. Another click pulls up the property's
owner, value and description. Demographics supplied by the U.S. Census
Bureau can also be queried for radiuses ranging from 1/4 mile to 21/2
miles.
Visitors to the site will eventually be able to pull up topography, as
well as locations of major public facilities like schools, libraries and
shopping centers.
That information is expected to be available this summer, said Mr.
Cangelosi.
A third phase will include the addition of sewer line, water line and
fire hydrant locations, and is scheduled to be online in the fall, city
officials said.
City Council members who previewed the service last week during a work
session said they were impressed.
"I can't wait to get home and try it," said council member Anna Holzer.
"I can see the real practicality in it."
City officials said they began looking to implement such a system more
than five years ago to help with daily operations, but at the time it
was too expensive, Mr. Weegar said.
About two years ago, the city partnered with the North Central Texas
Council of Governments to get one started.
"It was an evolution of ideas," Mr. Weegar said. "It's a tool we wanted
because from a city standpoint it makes our job a lot easier – it save a
lot of time and effort. But as we were getting into it, we thought about
taking it to the next level – public access."
The mapping system cost just less than $5,000 to implement and will cost
about $4,000 each year to maintain, not including manpower hours for
data input, city officials said.
Mr. Weegar said as the service's database expands, it will become even
more useful.
"The possibilities are just limitless," he said. "We're in the infancy
in what we can provide."
For instance, he said, they want to include applications where residents
can pay their water bill online, register for recreation classes and
apply for city permits.
"This is the future and that's where we're headed," Mr. Weegar said.
Staff writer Veronica Alaniz can be reached at and at 817-410-9602, ext. 4959.
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