Surprise demonstrates interactive map of meeting postings, staff to refine display
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Summary
City staff demonstrated a new interactive map that shows upcoming posted meeting notices and agendas; staff said the map is live but the public-facing link is not yet on the main site, and council asked for refinements including color-coding and mobile behavior.
City Development staff demonstrated an interactive online map at the Surprise City Council meeting on March 4, 2025, that displays posted meeting notices and links to associated agendas and PDFs.
The map is intended to help residents find neighborhood meeting postings and conditional-use hearing notices. "So tonight's the demonstration of the map," Community Development Director Lloyd Abrams told the council, describing a tool his team built with GIS and marketing staff that links map points to meeting information and agenda PDFs.
Council members pressed staff on how the map will match physical signs and how long postings remain visible. "All the dots on this map are gonna correspond with the whiteboards that we see posted around town?" Councilman Judd asked. Abrams said the map shows upcoming meetings entered into the planning system and that a point remains on the map one day past the meeting date; entries that are still TBD will appear once staff populates the database.
Several council members praised the tool as a transparency improvement and requested minor changes. Councilman Haney thanked staff for improving resident access to meeting information and said he would share the tool with constituents. Councilman Greenberg requested a distinct color for his district on the map. Abrams said staff will work on color assignments and that the map is responsive for phones, using location services when available.
Abrams also told council the map itself is live, but the public link will be published from the Community Development page and subscribers will receive notifications when it is posted. "The map itself is live," Abrams said, and staff intends the link to be placed on the community development page and to support subscription-based notifications.
Council members asked staff to consider keeping a visual distinction between posts for upcoming meetings and those for completed meetings; Abrams said the current routine removes points as soon as the meeting occurs but he will explore options to show completed postings longer. He also said the nightly routine that populates the map runs after planners enter meeting data.
The presentation concluded with council members thanking the development and GIS teams; no formal council action was required. Staff indicated they will return with minor refinements and will publish the public link from the Community Development web page.
The demonstration followed earlier requests from council to improve site-posting transparency and was presented as an initial roll-out that will be refined based on council feedback.
