City of Houston Launches Revamped PlatTracker System for Easier Land Development
The City of Houston Planning and Development Department unveiled a significantly upgraded PlatTracker system on Monday, April 14th, designed to streamline the submission and tracking of subdivision plat applications. The enhanced platform also provides the public with improved search capabilities for recently recorded plats and keeps them informed about land development proposals in their communities.
“PlatTracker is one of the most critical tools that impacts our development customers and the work we do every day,” stated Planning and Development Department Director Vonn Tran.
Tran emphasized the system’s importance as the initial point of contact for customers and the gateway to the Planning Commission approval process, highlighting the long-term impact of these decisions on the city’s development. He added, “The Department has fully leveraged the capabilities of the system we have been using over the last decade, so we are excited to modernize our customers’ user experience and still have room to grow.”
The relaunch is the culmination of over two years of research, development, testing, and collaboration between various city departments and Spruce Technology. The Planning Department also involved frequent PlatTracker users in a focus group to test the new system and provide valuable feedback before its public launch.
Over the past 12 years, PlatTracker has processed more than 51,000 plat-related submissions, serving an average of 4,300 customers annually. The system enables land planners, engineers, and surveyors to submit applications, allows applicants and the public to track their progress, keeps the general public informed about neighborhood development, and facilitates communication with regional agencies.
The new PlatTracker builds upon these functionalities with several key improvements, including:
- An improved dashboard for efficient information display.
- A streamlined application process.
- An intuitive and user-friendly interface.
- Enhanced search functionality.
- Integration with external systems for payments and geographic information.
- Optimized cloud file storage for remote access, sharing, and annotations.
The Planning and Development Department is also working on an overhaul of the Houston Preservation Tracker, which is currently in user testing, and planned for launch this summer.
