Canadian Municipal Land Use and Development Starter Kit
A Practical Foundation for Managing Land Use and Development Applications
The Land Use and Development Starter Kit provides municipalities with the foundational capabilities needed to manage development applications, supporting documentation, applicant communications, application records, and review activities within a single system.
The Starter Kit supports application intake, record management, document management, applicant self-service, reporting, and long-term application history while helping municipalities establish a more structured development review process.
Support Development Fees and Tax Calculations
Different development categories often require different fees, taxes, surcharges, or optional charges.
The Starter Kit can support complex development fee structures and tax calculations that reflect local development requirements, helping municipalities manage fee variations, optional add-ons, and development-specific charges within the development process.
By connecting fee and tax calculations directly to the application record, municipalities can improve consistency while reducing manual calculation effort.
Online Applications and Applicant Self-Service
The Starter Kit includes a public-facing application portal that allows applicants to submit land use and development applications online, track application progress, receive updates, upload additional information or documentation when required, and return to existing applications throughout the review process.
Rather than relying solely on paper forms, in-person visits, or email submissions, the Starter Kit supports digital application access for businesses submitting new licence applications. Municipalities can provide unauthenticated online forms while also supporting authenticated applicant self-service where applicants need to return to their information, view status, update active applications, or continue interacting with the licensing process.
Benefits include:
- 24/7 application access
- More complete application packages
- Application progress and status tracking
- Ability to update active applications
- Reduced manual data entry
- Fewer missing documents
- A clearer experience for applicants and staff
This helps create a more efficient experience for applicants while reducing administrative effort for municipal staff.
When the Land Use and Development Starter Kit Is the Right Fit
The Starter Kit is well suited for municipalities that:
- Need a practical starting point for digital development application administration
- Want to replace spreadsheets, shared drives, email-based coordination, or disconnected application records
- Require online applications, document management, and long-term application history within a single system
- Need better visibility into development activity, application progress, and review status without a major IT project
- Want a more structured process for managing development applications, documentation, and applicant communications
- Need a foundation that can be expanded over time as development activity and review requirements evolve
Platform Overview
The Land Use and Development Starter Kit is delivered using Microsoft Power Platform to support centralized data management, secure workflows, and future scalability.
Municipalities that later require online payment processing, GIS validation, geotagging, mobile inspections, automated routing, automatic inspection scheduling, work order tracking, or advanced scheduling capabilities can extend the solution through the Land Use and Development Expansion Features.
Keep Development Documents Connected to the Application
Land use and development reviews often require substantial supporting documentation.
Examples may include:
- Site plans
- Engineering reports
- Environmental studies
- Drawings and maps
- Supporting correspondence
- Technical assessments
- Additional municipal forms
Applicants can upload files during submission, allowing staff to review information directly within the application record.
Municipal staff can also add certificates, drawings, correspondence, approvals and other supporting material while the application is in progress, helping maintain a complete development file from application through decision.
Improve Communication with Applicants
Applicants often want assurance that their submissions have been received and processed appropriately.
The Starter Kit supports automatic notifications when:
- An application has been submitted
- An application has been approved
- An application has been declined
- Additional decision information is available
This helps reduce uncertainty for applicants while decreasing the need for manual updates from municipal staff.
Preserve Long-Term Application History
Land use and development decisions often need to be referenced years after the original application was processed.
The Starter Kit maintains historical records that allow staff to review:
- Previous applications
- Prior approvals and denials
- Development history by applicant or developer
- Property-related application activity
- Supporting documentation
- Historical communications
This helps ensure continuity even when staff responsibilities change and supports more informed decision-making over time.
Support Better Development Administration Without Added Complexity
The Starter Kit focuses on improving how municipalities manage applications on a day-to-day basis.
Staff can review applications, access supporting documents, communicate with applicants, and manage application records from one location rather than switching between spreadsheets, emails, filing systems, and disconnected databases.
Staff can also use reporting and dashboard information to monitor development activity, application progress, and operational workload without relying on manually maintained spreadsheets.
By creating a more structured application process, municipalities can improve consistency, visibility, and administrative efficiency without undertaking a major technology initiative.
Development Application Records and Administration
The Starter Kit provides municipalities with the core capabilities needed to manage development applications, applicant information, property-related activity, supporting documentation, communications, decisions, and application history within a single system.
Staff can:
- Create and manage development application records
- Review application status and review activity, including approvals and denials
- Maintain applicant and developer information
- Track property-related development activity
- Store supporting documentation
- Access reporting and dashboard information
- Review historical application records
This provides a structured operational foundation for managing day-to-day land use and development administration.
Configurable Development Applications
The Starter Kit supports configurable application forms that can be tailored to different land use and development requirements.
Municipalities can collect development-specific information, supporting documentation, and review data while maintaining a consistent application process across multiple development categories.
Examples may include:
- Development permits
- Development variance permits
- Temporary use permits
- Rezoning applications
- Subdivision applications
- Lot line adjustments
- Site grading permits
- Tree cutting permits
- Sewer, water, stormwater, and septic permits
- Soil deposit and removal permits
Application requirements can evolve over time without disrupting historical application records.
Get Started with the Land Use and Development Starter Kit
The Land Use and Development Starter Kit provides municipalities with a practical foundation for managing applications, documentation, communications, and development history within a single system.
Whether your municipality currently relies on spreadsheets, email-based processes, shared drives, or disconnected tools, the Starter Kit provides a clear path toward more structured and manageable development application administration.
Learn about the overall solution
