Civic Atlas brings transparency to Dallas zoning and building permits
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The Civic Atlas is a major win for public information transparency and accessibility.
More than three years in the making, this new tool takes already public Dallas zoning and building permit data and makes it “just as easy to use as Zillow, Airbnb or Google Maps,” says creator and Dallas native John Devine.
You can read all about Devine and the tool’s formation in our piece about the Civic Atlas, but here’s the most important thing to know: It was designed with residents of South Dallas and West Dallas in mind.
As these historically disinvested neighborhoods have become suddenly valuable in recent years, longtime residents have struggled to keep track of proposed developments that will impact their property values, their property taxes and their ability to stay put, if they want to. Nowhere in Dallas are these changes coming more rapidly than West Dallas.
In late summer 2022, Devine attended a West Dallas 1 meeting to show neighbors a prototype of the Civic Atlas. The overwhelming sentiment was relief at the prospect of technology that would find and map zoning cases for them. They asked lots of questions and made several requests, which Devine used to build out the Civic Atlas and says he welcomes as his team continues to tweak the tool.
Currently, the Civic Atlas is available exclusively through Dallas Free Press with previews of West Dallas and South Dallas zoning cases. Around the end of October, everyone in Dallas will be able to track their community’s zoning cases and building permits.
Would you help us make the Civic Atlas known to and usable for all Dallasites? Here are four options:
- Forward this newsletter and share the story with your neighbors.
- Give the Civic Atlas a whirl! Then tell us how it can be useful to your community, and send the Civic Atlas team feedback to make it even more useful.
- Invite us to your community gathering or civic group to demonstrate the tool.
- Donate to our efforts as we work with partners to make public information more transparent, accessible and useful to everyone in Dallas.
Thank you, as always, for being our partners in this work!
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Keri Mitchell has spent 20+ years as a community journalist, including 15 years dedicated to community and civic journalism at Dallas’ Advocate magazines. She launched Dallas Free Press in early 2020 with the belief that all neighborhoods deserve reporting and storytelling that values their community and holds leaders accountable.
Mitchell says she is energized by “knowing our work is making an impact — listening to people, telling their stories with strong narratives paired with compelling data that leads to change. I also love spending time in our neighborhoods and with our neighbors, learning from them and working to determine how journalism can be part of the solution to their challenges.”
Mitchell is proud to be the winner of multiple awards during her journalism career including: Finalist in Magazine Feature Reporting (2018) and Finalist in Magazine Investigative Reporting (2017) from Hugh Aynesworth Excellence in Journalism, Best Feature Story (2011) from Texas Community Newspaper Association and Best Magazine Feature (2011) from Dallas Bar Association Philbin Awards.
Areas of Expertise:
local government, education, civic issues, investigative and enterprise reporting
Location Expertise:
Dallas, Texas
Official Title:
Founder + executive director
Email Address:
keri@dallasfreepress.com
