Ross residents interested in knowing more about the status of commercial and residential projects no longer need to make a call or trip to the township’s planning department.

A new feature has been added to the township website that provides details about projects that are being reviewed by planners, those under construction and the ones that are open now or are about to open.

“We really want to have features on our website that people are interested in using, and this is a prime example of that,” said Commissioner Dan DeMarco, who chairs the township’s Planning, Zoning and Economic Development Committee. “The other commissioners and I regularly get telephone calls and emails from people who want to know what’s under development or how a project is progressing. While we’re happy to provide them whatever information we have, they can now easily find the answers by simply going to our website.”

Providing the development information along with a host of other features available online was not possible with township’s previous website.

After years of dealing with an outdated, cumbersome to use website, Ross commissioners agreed to upgrade the township’s online portal with one created by a company specializing in building user-friendly, interactive municipal websites.

The new system launched last March was created by Kansas-based CivicPlus. It is designed to integrate the township’s social media pages and allows residents to receive notifications from various departments and select when and how they receive the information.

Additionally, the system includes an emergency notification system to alert residents to road closures, water line breaks, detours and other information.

A separate alert system will provide notifications on mobile devices to anyone in the Ross area if a serious public safety event occurs.

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