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BACKGROUND While Pleasanton has long been attentive to strengthening its reputation as a business- friendly community, for the last several years the City has been particularly focused on streamlining the permitting process. As the result of review by the customer service task force, both administrative and policy recommendations have been implemented to enhance clarity, certainty and timeliness in the City's review and approval processes. These efforts are having a positive impact as demonstrated by a recent survey of Pleasanton companies that showed an increase in respondents indicating the permitting process was "easy" or "very easy." Among the few remaining initiatives to be implemented is an update to the City's zoning code. The update will ensure that permitted and conditionally permitted uses reflect both current business types and locations in the City where such uses are appropriate, and will streamline certain elements of the Planning review and approval process. This project is on the Council's 2015-2016 Work Plan and is currently underway. Staff's work on the zoning code update and past experience interfacing with applicants have suggested that understanding the applicable zoning regulations is challenging for many code users, including existing and prospective business owners in the City. Currently, prospective commercial tenants often have to make multiple visits to the Permit Center to ascertain whether a specific land use is allowed at a specific location or go through an iterative and time-consuming process using the online zoning parcel map. And in some instances the use isn't addressed in the zoning regulations, which then requires additional review and consideration by Planning staff. DISCUSSION In looking for ways to utilize technology to share zoning information in an interactive and user-friendly format, staff explored the product and service offered by OpenCounter. OpenCounter is an online software system for zoning and business permitting that allows existing companies and prospective businesses to quickly and easily view the zoning requirements needed to establish or expand a business in the City. A brochure describing OpenCounter's product suite is included as Attachment 1. In addition to the City's straight zoning districts (e.g., the A, RM, R-1, C, I, 0, P, and Q districts), there are almost 400 Planned Unit Development (PUD) Districts throughout the city, each of which has customized development regulations and allowable uses. Although PUD information can be provided by City staff in paper format, it is not remotely accessible in digital format. In addition, even with copies obtained at the Permit Center, PUDs are often not written in terms easily understood by the public. Under existing conditions, an individual who desires to open up a bakery in Pleasanton must find an available property in the city. Assuming this location is in a PUD (as is often the case), the individual must research the development regulations for that specific location and determine whether a bakery is permitted or conditionally permitted before seeking the appropriate permits. This process must be repeated for every Page 2 of 4