City staff and WMU graduate present searchable Planning Commission database documenting records back to 1954

City planning staff and a Western Michigan University graduate student demonstrated a new searchable Planning Commission records database at the May 7 meeting of the City of Kalamazoo Planning Commission.

Bobby (city planning staff) introduced the project and credited Charlie Kovacs, a recent graduate and former intern, for compiling the data. Charlie said he entered more than 1,100 individual planning commission requests covering 1954 through the present and showed database fields including request ID, location, applicant, request type, staff recommendation, hearing dates, commission actions and links to TIFF images of original minutes.

Charlie demonstrated filters that let users find items by staff recommendation, applicant or request type and showed how the system links commission actions to ordinance numbers and attachments. Staff said the database is intended to be a living document to help staff and the public find decisions and supporting materials more quickly than searching scattered TIFF files.

Commissioners asked about curation, who will maintain the data and whether the database will be publicly accessible. Staff said the planning division currently manages the records and will authenticate entries before passing material to city archives; staff also noted public-access and FOIA implications remain to be finalized, though staff suggested making searchable records available could reduce FOIA workload. The database is not yet published for general public viewing, but staff said they could configure view-only access.

Commissioners praised the project and congratulated Charlie on his work and recent graduation from Western Michigan University. Staff said future steps include populating additional attachments (staff reports and ordinance texts) and determining ongoing stewardship and public-access arrangements.