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Auburn’s Master Plan Adopted
The City now has a new master plan to chart its course for the next decade. The Auburn City Council adopted the 10-year, comprehensive plan at their meeting on January 22nd, after reviewing the document for weeks prior, and making some small changes.
The 120-plus page plan will guide city land-use policies, though it is not a legally binding document. The final version of the master plan differs slightly from the draft proposed in October. Before the meeting when it was approved, planning officials made final changes that soften some of the language involving the City's sidewalk policy.
The comprehensive plan now suggests the City encourage sidewalk installation and prioritize areas that need sidewalk work. City officials also resolved issues over parts of the master plan that dealt with business signs around Auburn. The old language suggested the City ban pole signs, but local merchants said that would hurt their business.
Jennifer Haines, the City's Director of Planning and Economic Development, said she is pleased with the way involved parties were willing to compromise. “We were able to get people comfortable (with the plan),” Haines said. “But the overall themes are still there.”
The plan is meant to guide land-use policy, and it points out the City's potential to foster a thriving downtown, healthy neighborhoods, cultural diversity, an active arts community, successful tourism industry, environmentally sustainable development and an entrepreneurial spirit.
It also offers dozens of suggestions on how to achieve those priorities, laying out the cost and time it could take to carry out various proposals.
Now that the plan is official, the City will look over its zoning codes. Codes and planning officials will review the Housing, Fire, Building and Zoning sections of the Municipal Code and suggest changes to the Council.
-Provided by The Citizen
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