LA Department of City Planning
Modernizing Public Access to Los Angeles's New Zoning Code
Client
LA Department of City Planning
Headquarters
Los Angeles, CA
Industry
Municipal Government Land Use Planning
Website
Services
- Business Technology Strategy
- System Migration and Integration
- Custom Application Development
- Content Management System Implementation
- Apache Solr Search Configuration
- Government Digital Services
- Technical Project Management
The Challenge
The Los Angeles Department of City Planning's zoning code portal was started on a platform approaching its end-of-life and could no longer provide the support expected of critical government infrastructure. Upgrading was urgent: the city had adopted a new Zoning Code in late 2024, with the Downtown Community Plan Area going into effect in early 2025, and the department needed a platform capable of supporting updated regulations at launch.
The Solution
iS2 Digital designed and built a new Drupal 10 platform, taking full ownership of development, architecture, and design. The project centered on a complete architectural overhaul: replacing legacy modules with modern components and migrating twenty custom modules, including the core zoning code module that drives the entire application, to the updated framework.
At the heart of the platform is a two-stage content pipeline connecting Adobe InDesign to the Drupal CMS. City staff update and revise zoning code content, import it into InDesign to generate formatted regulatory documents, and the resulting data flows into the Drupal backend, ensuring the digital portal and official print materials remain in sync.
The rebuilt platform introduced Apache Solr-powered search for more accurate navigation of complex zoning regulations, and a updated responsive theme to fully support mobile accessibility for users in the field. As well, the new theme delivered a significantly improved backend user interface for city staff managing ongoing content updates.
Prior to final release, and due to the timing of the updated zoning code, the team identified a gating workflow issue where document versioning had to be maintained with full fidelity across every iteration of the code as it evolved in the Staging environment, prior to production release. This atypical requirement of having final content in the Staging environment demanded additional architectural piping and was successfully accommodated.
The platform launched successfully, meeting the deadline aligned with the new zoning code rollout and supporting version-tracked regulatory content from Staging content through the day-one Production release.
Project Details
The Client
The Los Angeles Department of City Planning is responsible for all land use planning functions for the nation's second-largest city, with nearly four million residents across 470 square miles. The department oversees long-range policy planning, zoning updates across 34 Community Plan Areas, discretionary project review, environmental review, and historic preservation. Its work touches every neighborhood in Los Angeles, shaping how the city grows, where housing is built, and how development aligns with community needs. The department operates through five bureaus: Citywide Policy Planning, Community Planning, Development Services, Project Planning, and Operations and Engagement. It is led by a Director of Planning appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by City Council. A reliable, accessible online portal is essential infrastructure for this work, enabling residents, developers, and city staff to navigate the regulations that govern development across the entire city.
