Press Release: A New Year, A New Look: Welcome to DCP’s New Website - DCP

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For Immediate Release
January 29, 2016

Contacts:
Rachaele Raynoff - (212) 720-3471

A New Year, A New Look: Welcome to DCP’s New Website

Improved layout and additional features provide a more user-friendly experience

January 29, 2016 – The Department of City Planning (DCP) today announced its new and improved website, with a more attractive user interface, improved site navigation and revised content that better presents the department’s priorities, work program and processes. This is the first major revamp of DCP’s website since 2012 and the sixth major revision since our website debuted in 1996. Now mobile- and tablet-friendly, the new website highlights the major themes of the agency’s work and provides easier access to the agency’s most popularly viewed material. The site was built within the overall NYC.gov website architecture and therefore delivers to the public a look and feel that is uniform across City agencies.

City Planning Director Carl Weisbrod said, “As the world moves more and more online, having an accessible and informative website is essential for any government agency. DCP’s more efficient website will make it easier for the public to become knowledgeable about our various initiatives, studies and research found online. Thanks to the hard work of our Information Technology division, DCP’s digital presence is stronger and more useful than ever.”

The new layout of DCP’s website puts our most popular and vital information, including the zoning text, zoning maps and population, at the public’s fingertips, re-organized to help users find what they need more quickly – in a more customer-friendly format. Revised language and added content will help ensure the right amount of information for a wide range of users.

Community engagement is a core objective at DCP and our website revision will help to better keep the public up-to-date on our community plans, to reflect neighborhood discussion. By visiting the Get Involved page, stay on top of our upcoming public meetings throughout the City.

The homepage provides a new, streamlined, one-stop shopping guide for neighborhood residents and property owners called ‘I Want To Know,’ which aims to answer some of the public’s most frequently asked questions and/or direct them to the correct agency regarding:

Building and Land Use

Affordable Housing

New York City

Flood Zones and the Waterfront

Enforcement

Business

A similar, detailed FAQ dedicated to zoning is available as well.

Visitors will also be able to jump to any of our current studies and initiatives, stay on top of City Planning Commission meetings, look up the zoning requirements applicable to their street, view information on New York City’s population, dig through open data, find land use applications, view searchable reports, read about the land use review procedure and look for job opportunities.

Neighborhood planning studies in support of the Mayor’s Housing Plan can now be found under the umbrella of PLACES, which stands for Planning for Livability, Affordability, Community, Economic Opportunity and Sustainability. Our initiatives can also be found not only by topic, but also geographically, with links for projects underway or approved in all five boroughs. Additional information can be found on DCP’s increased role in coordinating capital investment programs for the City’s neighborhood‐based plans and in developing the City’s Ten‐Year Capital Strategy.
The website has been reorganized from top to bottom, optimizing space and content to create a better viewing experience. For example, our zoning districts pages now contain larger photos and graphics, less text and drop-down menus, all of which enhance clarity for our visitors. Our Population and extensive Data and Maps collections have also been streamlined, making our reports, presentations, GIS data sets and our often-sought Bytes of The Big Apple accessible.

DCP’s Community Portal has similarly been reworked, making it easier than ever to access information on a variety of topics related to land use, community planning and budget processes and demographic trends for all of New York City’s 59 community boards. Find your community board on our map and learn more about your neighborhood.

Any content on our website can now be effortlessly disseminated, as a series of icons on the left-hand side of each page allows for one-click sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Tumblr and email. To stay informed on the newest updates to sections of the website, subscribe to one of the RSS Feeds on topics of interest. At the top of every page, our Google Translate tool also enables users to view the pages in one of 90 languages.

Moving forward, DCP will continue to introduce new features to its website in order to improve the users’ experience, to increase transparency and to encourage community engagement.

Department of City Planning
The Department of City Planning (DCP) plans for the strategic growth and development of the City through ground-up planning with communities, the development of land use policies and zoning regulations applicable citywide, and its contribution to the preparation of the City’s 10-year Capital Strategy. DCP promotes housing production and affordability, fosters economic development and coordinated investments in infrastructure and services, and supports resilient, sustainable communities across the five boroughs for a more equitable New York City.

In addition, DCP supports the City Planning Commission in its annual review of approximately 450 land use applications for a variety of discretionary approvals. The Department also assists both government agencies and the public by advising on strategic and capital planning and providing policy analysis, technical assistance and data relating to housing, transportation, community facilities, demography, zoning, urban design, waterfront areas and public open space.