 Did you know you can find out all sorts of information about zoning and more by using interactive mapping software commonly referred to as GIS? That's short for geographic information systems. A link to the city information viewer is included on the district's and overlays page, which is most easily accessed through columbiasc.gov forward slash zoning. We recommend you view the GIS site from a desktop or tablet device. When you click on the GIS site, a disclaimer pop-up will appear, noting that the data available is a compilation of data from a variety of sources. It's a short disclaimer, but it's important to note too that the property lines are not what we would refer to as survey grade accurate. That means the lines shown are a good representation, but by no means perfect. You should always make sure you know where your property boundaries are as surveyed before starting to disturb land or build. The disclaimer also serves as a good reminder. You should always get final confirmation of a property zoning by contacting the zoning division directly. The city's GIS division has a lot of helpful interactive maps, but we'll be accessing the most robust one, the city information viewer, for our zoning maps, and we thought it would be helpful to teach you a few tips and tricks. To check the zoning of a specific property or area, it's easiest to start with an address or TMS number. Let's look up City Hall, which is located at 1737 Main Street. You can either type in 1737 Main and select the address from the drop-down menu that populates, or you can type in the TMS number, which in this case is 09014-02-02 and hit Enter. While we closed the side window and typed in the top so you could see more of the screen, you can type that information into the top search window or at the right-hand side window. Both will zoom the map view to the property. You can click on the property to open a summary of the information in a pop-up window. This will highlight the property boundary, which will help confirm you've clicked on the right tax parcel. While that pop-up does include zoning information, along with when your trash pickup comes, what your voting district is, etc., we recommend you use the menu on the left-hand side to select the zoning layers. You'll need to check zoning and expand the submenu and then also check zoning districts. This will give you an idea of not only the zoning for your property, but also how surrounding properties are zoned. The zoning color codes should load and you can expand zoning districts or any layer to see the color coding assigned to each district. Once you've clicked on the property, the zoning will populate. You may have to click on an area to scroll to the correct pop-up window if you have a few map layers turned on. The pop-up will name the zoning district for you and if you click on it, a new window will open that will take you to the zoning district's web page where you can learn more about that district. Anytime you check on the zoning of a property, you should also check for zoning overlays. It's easiest to see that the map layer has loaded properly if you turn off the base zoning and then check each of the layers one at a time. By checking the historic preservation overlays layer, we learn that City Hall is designated as an individual landmark. Once we turn that layer off and check design overlays, we can also see that it is located in the City Center Design Development District. Let's look up another property, one that helps us understand why it's important to click on the parcel and scroll through the pop-up windows. Like City Hall, the Governor's Mansion, between Gadsden, Richland, Lincoln, and Laurel, is also located in the City Center Design Development District. When we switch back to the historic preservation overlays layer, we can see that it is also designated as a local historic landmark, which provides certain protections to this notable structure. Unlike City Hall though, the mansion is also located in a locally designated historic district, the Governor's Mansion Protection Area, which we learned by tabbing over on the pop-up window. While it doesn't happen often, some properties in the city are split-zoned. This means that a portion of the property may be in one zoning district while the balance is in another. This is usually because the property is large, and where some land uses and development types may be appropriate along a larger roadway, they would not be appropriate for the entirety of the property, given adjacency to residential or sensitive uses. That is the case at the corner of Millwood and Gervais, where a large property has two different zoning districts. You might not notice it, but when you click on each parcel, the pop-up windows will show that the TMS number is the same, but the zoning district is different. This is where it is most helpful to turn on the zoning district's layer, where color coding makes it more easy to understand. Before making any concrete plans, please remember to always get final confirmation of zoning from staff by contacting the zoning division during normal business hours at 803-545-3333, or by emailing zoning at columbiasc.gov. Remember, if you have any questions about the zoning of a property or how that rezoning relates to changes you might be thinking about, the best thing to do is to contact the zoning division. The City Information Viewer has a lot more information than just zoning, and it can be a super helpful resource.