Morgantown Brings Transparency and Visibility to Permitting with ArcGIS

Whether it’s a resident applying for a building permit or a contractor preparing for a new project, permitting shouldn’t be a frustrating experience. Yet for many local governments, disconnected systems and paper-based workflows remain the norm. The result is familiar: Applicants face delays, staff struggle with limited visibility, and important information can be difficult to track across departments. In Morgantown, West Virginia, city leaders set out to change that experience.

The city replaced a fragmented, paper-based permitting system with a digital platform built on Trimble Cityworks and ArcGIS technologies. By connecting permitting workflows with geographic information system (GIS) data, what was once a disconnected process is now a shared system that supports permitting, licensing, and development activities citywide. The result is greater visibility for staff and faster, more convenient access to services for residents, contractors, and developers.

Before Morgantown’s digital transformation, the city relied on a largely paper-based permitting process supported by limited back-end software. The application was originally designed for business licensing and included a basic permitting function, but it lacked flexibility and strong data management capabilities. “Teams migrated paper-based data into that software, and it wasn’t maintained, so a lot of bad data ended up in there,” says Marvin Davis, geospatial services manager at the City of Morgantown.

Applicants were also required to visit city hall in person to submit permit requests. The process was slow and frustrating for both residents and staff. “Complaints abounded,” says Davis. “Turnarounds weren’t great, and things were getting lost.”

Limited visibility across departments created additional challenges. Permit approvals sometimes moved forward without input from key stakeholders such as the fire marshal or engineering team. When important issues were missed, problems often surfaced during later inspections, leading to rework, project delays, and frustration.

In the early 2020s, Morgantown received federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act, allowing the city to invest in digital public services. One priority was to provide the public with online access to permitting applications and licensing services.

City leaders began implementing digital service tools, including CivicPlus SeeClickFix for 311 service requests, and sought a modern platform for managing permits and payments electronically.

In 2024, Morgantown implemented Trimble Cityworks software and integrated it with the city’s existing Esri ArcGIS Online environment. The combined platform centralizes permitting information alongside geospatial data, providing a comprehensive view of development activity across the city.

“Being able to see a map of issued permits, including businesses and active rentals, has improved visibility among our teams and greatly reduced the number of questions we get asked daily,” Davis says. The platform has also helped improve the city’s addressing data. “We incorporated the ability to note all the units that a rental registration covers, instead of a single address point.”

With the new permitting system, city staff can more easily generate reports and analyze permitting data. “The previous software was rigid, and we couldn’t see a lot of data under the hood,” Davis says. “Now we can see what’s happening systemwide.”

Morgantown’s public access portal also simplifies the permitting process for contractors and residents. Contractors can be added directly to permit applications, allowing the city’s finance department to verify business licenses as part of the permit review process. “We were able to link an active business license number to each contractor, and as we’re processing throughout the year, it stays on the list,” says Davis. “That helps with enforcement and immediately saves several steps from a finance standpoint.”

According to Davis, the system’s early successes helped build confidence across city departments. “Digital transformations are scary,” he says. “But when folks see a massive headache go away all of a sudden, it really helps with buy-in.”

Today, Morgantown has transitioned from a paper system to a fully digital platform for planning and licensing. Using ArcGIS software, city teams embed regulatory data into location-based workflows, enabling processes such as issuing stop-work orders when violations are detected.

The digital system has improved coordination across departments and shortened permit review cycles. While the city is still establishing formal benchmarks, staff report noticeably faster processing times and fewer administrative delays compared to the previous paper-based process.

The platform has also improved the permitting experience for residents and businesses. Applicants can now submit permits and license applications through the city’s online portal—a significant convenience, especially for out-of-state contractors and developers. “It’s a huge improvement in the experience for citizens,” Davis says.

Looking ahead, Morgantown plans to expand transparency by sharing more permitting information through its public GIS portal built with ArcGIS Hub. “We have a page in our GIS Hub that’s going to give residents a location-based view of every rental, business license, and issued permit,” Davis says. “If someone has a question about work being done in their neighborhood, they can see right away if the project is permitted.”

Before the transition to Trimble and ArcGIS, providing this type of information required time-consuming manual research. Now, the city can easily publish data services and interactive dashboards through its ArcGIS Online environment.

“It’s as easy as creating a new service for that query and adding it to our ArcGIS Online site,” Davis says. “It’s there, it’s done—we can share it and put a dashboard on it.”