SAN JOSE, Calif. (KCBS) -- There's a new push underway in Silicon Valley to digitize all planning documents used for new construction projects.
KCBS’ Matt Bigler Reports
Seth Fearey is head of the Climate Protection Task Force for Joint Venture Silicon Valley. He says they're now able to take heavy documents made up of thousands of pages, and digitize them in a process called “e-planning.” Basically architects submit their documents to city hall electronically.
”That means you can move the documents around very quickly because they’re all electronic,” said Fearey.
But the process has not been without glitches.
”The storage of the digital files was an issue, but it’s not any more,” said Doug Rider with CSG Consultants. “The T-1 lines make the transmittal of those large files way faster than they ever were.”
And huge 30-inch computer monitors for viewing blueprints are much less expensive than they were even a few years ago.
The San Jose planning department is out testing e-planning, and they hope other cities will come onboard in the next year.
(MGO)