The Norwalk City Economic and Community Development Committee on Dec. 3 approved a $2,495 increase to the ARC Document Solutions contract to fund GIS customization and a public‑access module aimed at making historic tax cards and scanned permit records easier to find online.

Steve (city staff) said the work complements the ongoing permitting modernization and historic scanning efforts. He told the committee that tax cards dating back decades have been scanned (selected years called out in staff remarks) and that the project will include explanatory text to help users navigate changes in historical address and parcel identification conventions.

"When we started, I don't think we really had a well defined process, and I think that's what you'll see more of this after the permit software is implemented that the flow is better," Steve said, noting that scanned tax cards and older building permits will be linked with the new permitting system over time.

Staff said the goal is to make historic tax assessment cards and scanned building permits searchable and to link them to the tax assessor and planning pages. The committee approved the item unanimously.

The work is expected to go live by the end of the calendar year for the initial tax card set, with further linkage to permit records and historic zoning files over the next one to two years.