diff --git a/dash_app/definitions.py b/dash_app/definitions.py
index 2c5cc6f..29bc82e 100644
--- a/dash_app/definitions.py
+++ b/dash_app/definitions.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 
 if CONNECT_TO_LAMBDA:
 
-    print("DEPLOYMENT 13")
+    print("DEPLOYMENT 14")
 
     DATASET_ID = "1ffea-emt93" # MSD-LIVE added dataset id that goes to DEV
     DATA_DIR = ""
@@ -26,14 +26,17 @@
     if LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT is None:
         print(" ********** ", "LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT is None")
         METADATA_DIR = './metadata'
+        SERVE_LOCALLY = True
     else:
         print("********** LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT is ", os.getenv('LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT'))
         METADATA_DIR = os.path.join(LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT, "dash_app", "metadata")
+        SERVE_LOCALLY = False
 
 else:
     DATA_DIR = "../../data/msdlive-gridcerf"
     METADATA_DIR = "./metadata"
     LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT = ""
+    SERVE_LOCALLY = True
 
 
 COMPILED_DIR = os.path.join(DATA_DIR, "gridcerf/compiled/compiled_technology_layers")
diff --git a/dash_app/layout.py b/dash_app/layout.py
index dbb7581..bd6a413 100644
--- a/dash_app/layout.py
+++ b/dash_app/layout.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 
 # SOURCED SCRIPTS
 from src.utilities import recur_dictify
-from definitions import LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT, CONNECT_TO_LAMBDA, REQUESETS_PATHNAME_PREFIX, METADATA_DIR, OUTDIR
+from definitions import LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT, CONNECT_TO_LAMBDA, SERVE_LOCALLY, REQUESETS_PATHNAME_PREFIX, METADATA_DIR, OUTDIR
 
 # PATHS
 tech_pathways_df = pd.read_csv(os.path.join(METADATA_DIR, "msdlive_tech_paths.csv")) 
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ def create_app():
 		                		   {"name": "viewport", "content": "width=device-width, initial-scale=1"},
 		                           {"name": "description", "content": "Geospatial Raster Input Data for Capacity Expansion Regional Feasibility (GRIDCERF). A high-resolution energy mapper."}
 		                        ],
-						serve_locally = False if LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT is not (None, "") else True, # must be False for app deployment on AWS lambda
+						serve_locally = SERVE_LOCALLY, # must be False for app deployment on AWS lambda
 						server=server,
 						)