One of the things that sets UrbanForm’s zoning service apart is the rounds of analysis, iteration, and review behind every jurisdiction we serve. That work happens internally and alongside the people in each jurisdiction who work with the code every day. We take this approach because so much of the intelligence in zoning lives beyond any single document. It lives in the nuances of the code, in past determinations, in staff knowledge, and in how the code is actually applied. T

Quang Truong with SEDCOR's 2026 Innovative Product of the Year award. Photo: F Miller Photography Yesterday in Salem, SEDCOR (the Strategic Economic Development Corporation) gave UrbanForm its 2026 Innovative Product/Process of the Year award at the Annual Awards & Membership Meeting. We're honored. We also know this award belongs to a lot of people, so we're going to name as many of them as we can. Accepting the award on stage at the Salem Convention Center. The SEDCOR team.

We've just published our first full progress report on UrbanForm in Coos County, and we're proud to share it. Bandon, Coos Bay, and North Bend launched publicly in October 2025. Unincorporated Coos County joined in August 2026. And this month, Coquille, Lakeside, Myrtle Point, and Powers came online, completing countywide coverage across more than 42,000 parcels on a single map. The Coos region map on entry. All eight jurisdictions render in a single view, with zoning, overla

We've got a full week ahead, and we couldn't be more excited about the company we're keeping. Tomorrow, we're proud to sponsor Bisnow Seattle's State of the Market, where the region's top real estate leaders will dig into capital markets, Opportunity Zones 2.0, and the projects shaping the Puget Sound. Zoning clarity matters most exactly where decisions about what gets built are actually being made, and we're glad to be part of that conversation. From there, we're heading dow

UrbanForm was lucky enough to spend some time in Honolulu last week alongside Haylee Ulrey of Autom Insights and Aaron Moffatt of White Rabbit Ashland for "Using Technology to Tackle the Housing Crisis" at Hawaii Tech Week, and the conversation left us energized. The panel was built around using data and AI to decode the vast amounts of information need to make decisions at the city and state level, including zoning and other economic data. This was about connecting the right

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Hawaii Tech Week brings together thousands of founders, investors, and civic leaders across dozens of events in Honolulu, all working toward growing Hawaii's tech economy and building bridges between Hawaii and the broader Pacific innovation community. We're honored that UrbanForm has a seat at that table this year. Today, Quang joins "Using Technology to Tackle the Housing Crisis" alongside Haylee Ulrey of Autom Insights, Thor Muller of White Rabbit, and Jerryck Murrey of An

Coos County has become the second county in America with every one of its jurisdictions' zoning codes and maps digitized and publicly searchable from a unified online platform. With unincorporated Coos County now live (joining our existing service of Bandon, Coos Bay, and North Bend) and a new contract bringing on Coquille, Lakeside, Myrtle Point, and Powers, the county joins Yamhill as one of only two places in the country where anyone, a property owner, a developer, a lende

Permits and zoning are usually treated as two different worlds. They’re different departments, with different systems, and different people you'd call with a question. But they're really answering the same thing: what's happening on this property, and where is it headed. Here at UrbanForm, we’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, working closely with our government customers to bring information that's long been kept in silos together in one place. It's all intertwined; c

Ask anyone working in development and construction what stands between an idea and a finished project, and funding may be one of the first responses. But look a little deeper and there’s a second bottleneck that gets less attention, but be just as costly: information. Can this property be developed? What zoning applies? What infrastructure is available? What environmental constraints exist? What permits will be required? Is this even a viable site? These are basic questions.

We use AI in parts of our own work, and we think it's worth being plain about how. So today we're publishing our AI Policy, a short, straightforward page on how AI shows up at UrbanForm and how it supports the people who rely on us. Our one principle Everything we build exists to strengthen human decision-making, keep people well-informed, and build the foundations for good relationships. That's the whole policy in one sentence, and everything else follows from it. Land-use d

Every city we work with already has tools in place to serve residents well. GIS portals, permit systems, comprehensive plans, dedicated staff who know the code inside and out. Those tools and that expertise are the foundation. UrbanForm doesn't replace any of it. UrbanForm builds a zoning intelligence layer: a layer that puts the answer to "what can I do here?" directly into the hands of people, whether or not they already speak the language of zoning. It’s an intelligence la

Washington’s middle housing law has been on the books since 2023. Most planners in the state know the headline: cities must allow duplexes, triplexes, and other “missing middle” housing types in residential zones that were previously single-family only. What’s less clear, and what’s generating a lot of the real work right now, is the parcel-level question underneath that headline. Knowing your city is required to allow four units per lot doesn’t tell you which lots can actual

And why your city manager and community development director will thank you for it. Community Development Directors don't want to buy software. They want outcomes. Better permit applications, confident, capable, and productive staff, a department that feels responsive and serves their community well. Here's what actually changes when your city deploys UrbanForm. 1. Your staff spends less time on routine lookups. "What can I build on this property?" is one of the most common q

Small moves. Real results. Launching a new public-facing tool is only half the work. The other half is making sure residents can find it. Three Oregon cities have done that especially well with UrbanForm and the approaches they took are worth sharing, because they're simple, replicable, and they work. Boardman: Give It Its Own Home The City of Boardman created a dedicated UrbanForm page under City Administration - its own destination with a plain-language description, a dire

There is a version of a parcel inquiry that goes smoothly. Someone calls or walks in, the planner pulls up the zoning, answers the question, and the conversation ends in under ten minutes. That version exists, and it happens every day. But there is another version - the more common one - where zoning is only part of what someone needs to know. A developer wants to understand the history of a site before investing in due diligence. A contractor is trying to reconcile what the

There’s a lot of energy right now around AI in local government. And honestly, most of it is well-placed. The technology is genuinely impressive, the potential applications for planning and community development are real, and cities are paying attention. But there’s a question that doesn’t get asked enough in those conversations: what has to be there before AI can do its job? Because the planning departments we see getting the most out of new technology aren’t necessarily th

Resources are available to support comprehensive planning efforts Oregon planning departments are managing significant workloads, including housing production targets, HAPO deadlines, and addressing post-pandemic growth with existing staff resources. The DLCD offers the UGB Expansion Area Planning Grants as a practical resource to support cities. There is $500,000 available to help cities complete comprehensive planning for unannexed land within their UGBs. Applications are

We're speaking at the LOC Spring Conference this week. Here's what we actually want to talk about, and why the most useful AI conversations in planning are the most boring ones. Every few months, someone publishes a piece about how AI is going to transform local government. The framing is usually the same: enormous potential, significant risk, unclear timeline. The technology is evolving rapidly. More guidance is coming. The conclusions are split, but equally frightening on b

Late last year, UrbanForm began working with the Southern Oregon Coast Regional Housing Collaborative (SOCRH) and CCD Business Development Corporation to bring parcel-specific zoning information online for the cities of Coos Bay, North Bend, and Bandon. The goal was to remove the friction that slows projects down before they even begin, supporting their housing goals and economic development across the region. That work is now expanding. Today, in partnership with Coos County