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CivicLine Planning · Local Government
Application intake before the planner loses an afternoon.
CivicLine Planning pre-screens development packets for completeness, parcel constraints, and quantitative zoning checks. It cites the ordinance sections it relied on, drafts a staff-ready response, and routes the application to the right reviewers. The planner reviews, corrects, and signs.
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Application types
6
Reviewer queues
0
Permit decisions by AI
How a packet moves
04
Route
To the planner, who interprets & signs.
03
Draft
Staff-ready findings, sources attached.
01
Check
Completeness and parcel constraints.
02
Calculate
Cited zoning math, by ordinance §.
Application Types
Seven types of applications.
Each application type has its own checklist, zoning math, and reviewer path. CivicLine Planning gives staff a repeatable first pass: missing packet items, cited calculations, parcel constraints, and the issues that need planner judgment.
Type 01
Building permit
New construction, additions, alterations. Checks setback, height, FAR, lot coverage, and parking against the underlying zoning district.
Routes: Planner · Building Official
Type 05
Site plan
Full site plan review. Setbacks, parking, landscape, stormwater, access, sight distance, signage. Heavy checklist.
Routes: Planner · Engineer · Fire
Type 02
Zoning variance
Departures from the standards. Identifies which standards the request varies from and the unique-hardship facts that have to support it.
Routes: Planner · BZA
Type 06
Special use
Use-specific approval. Surfaces the underlying standards in the special-use article that apply to the proposed use.
Routes: Planner · Council
Type 03
Conditional use
Uses permitted by condition. Checks the use against the table of conditional uses for the district; lists the applicable conditions.
Routes: Planner · Commission
Type 07
Demolition
Demolition permits. Flags historic-district overlays, asbestos certification, and abandonment-of-use considerations.
Routes: Building Official · Historic
Type 04
Subdivision
Lot splits, plats. Runs minimum lot size, frontage, and access checks; identifies which exhibits the application is missing.
Routes: Planner · Engineer
More
Other types
Need a type that isn't here? The checklist engine can be configured to your jurisdiction's needs.
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What It Checks
Mostly math.
Not mostly AI.
CivicLine Planning leans on the language model as little as possible. Setback distances, FAR calculations, parcel overlays — all deterministic, all citable, all reproducible. The LLM writes the letter; it doesn't decide the outcome.
Deterministic · Reproducible · Citable
What runs by rule.
These checks run as code against your published municipal code. Same inputs, same outputs, every time. Every check returns the ordinance section it relied on.
Checklist completeness — what the packet must include, what's missing
Setbacks — front, side, rear, against the district minimums
Floor Area Ratio (FAR) — computed against the lot area
Height — proposed vs. district maximum
Lot coverage — impervious surface, building footprint
Parking — required spaces vs. proposed, by use category
Parcel constraints — zoning, overlays, floodplain, historic, easements
Internal inconsistencies — narrative vs. drawings, drawings vs. exhibits
Every check carries an ordinance citation. If a check returns "needs human," the citation explains why the deterministic check couldn't conclude.
Where the LLM helps
What runs by language.
Two narrow jobs for the model:
The response letter — turns the structured findings into the prose your office actually sends. Tone matches your state-level policy pack.
Routing rationale — one or two sentences per reviewer queue, explaining why this application needs that desk's attention.
Both outputs are reviewed by a planner before sending. The agent doesn't decide; the agent drafts.
Routing
Six desks.
Every applicable check tags itself with the reviewer desk it requires. The agent aggregates the tags and routes a single application to as many or as few queues as the work actually demands.
Queue 01
Planner
The lead reviewer. Owns zoning compliance, use determination, and the overall pre-screening output. Sees every application.
Queue 04
Fire Marshal
Access, hydrant coverage, suppression requirements. Sees site plans and special-use applications with assembly occupancy.
Queue 02
Engineer
Site plan engineering, drainage, sight distance, public infrastructure impact. Sees site plans and subdivisions.
Queue 05
Environmental
Wetlands, stormwater, tree preservation, environmental overlays. Triggered by parcel constraints in the deterministic pass.
Queue 03
Building Official
Code compliance, occupancy, structural prerequisites. Sees building permits and demolitions.
Queue 06
Historic
Historic-district review. Triggered automatically when the parcel sits within a historic overlay; sees demolitions and exterior alterations.
Boundaries
The agent doesn't decide.
Permit decisions belong to planners and elected bodies, not to AI. Everything CivicLine Planning produces is a recommendation for human review.
01
Never issues a permit decision.
The output is always a staff aid: complete, incomplete, or needs planner review. It does not recommend approval or denial. It prepares the record for a planner who owns the call.
03
Stateless.
CivicLine Chat is hard-limited to the citizen-tier toolset. Internal personnel records, draft FOIA responses, pre-decisional emails — none of it is reachable from this surface.
02
Every zoning check requires a citation.
The check field for an ordinance citation is not optional. If the system can't cite an authority, the check returns needs human. Ambiguity is surfaced, not hidden.
04
No external GIS calls.
Parcel constraints (zoning, overlays, floodplain, historic, easements) are pre-fetched by the caller and passed in. The agent doesn't reach out to your GIS during the run; the source of truth stays where it should.
Sample Analysis
One application, end to end.
Below is the structured output for a sample building-permit application in a C-1 commercial district. The agent ran the pre-screen, cited the sources, and flagged what needs attention. It did not recommend approval or denial.