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Auburn council approves five-year comp plan update after amendments
Summary
The City Council approved the 5-year update to Auburn's comprehensive plan (Comp Plan 02/1930) after amending multiple growth-change proposals and removing a sentence about police hiring language from the public-safety section.
Auburn City Council on April 15 approved an updated five-year comprehensive plan (Comp Plan 02/1930) after adopting several targeted amendments, council members said.
The council's action, taken as the final vote on a motion introduced earlier in the process, implements the staff-proposed update with three council-led changes. Council members removed two earlier growth-change proposals (growth changes 5 and 6), adopted an amendment to growth-change number 7 to retain two parcels as office-park/commercial/industrial-support rather than changing them to interstate commercial, and amended growth-change number 3 to leave certain parcels as rural rather than opening them to denser residential designations.
The update also includes a text change in the public-safety chapter: the council voted to remove a sentence that had referred to maintaining "diversity" in the police department workforce, after several members said the broader plan should emphasize skills and merit-based hiring. Council debate on that revision focused on whether the term "diversity" in the plan referred to a range of skills, ages and experiences or whether the sentence as written risked implying hiring priorities; the council voted to strike the sentence from the document.
Megan, the city's planning director, briefed the council on the mapping and text changes and displayed maps comparing existing and proposed future land-use designations. Councilperson Dawson moved the amendment to growth-change 7 and Councilperson Parsons previously moved approval of the overall plan; Mayor Pro Tem Witten seconded the earlier motion. After additional amendments and discussion the council approved the comp plan update as amended.
City staff and council members emphasized that the comprehensive plan sets future land-use guidance only; zoning regulations and specific development proposals require separate processes. Several council members said the amendments were intended to slow near-term rezoning and development in specific areas until infrastructure or neighborhood concerns can be addressed.
The Planning Commission had recommended approval of the update on Nov. 14, 2024. The council's approval completes the five-year update process as amended and returns the plan to staff for implementation steps such as public posting and follow-up zoning work.
The council did not change any specific zoning lines tonight; council members reminded residents that future zoning or subdivision approvals will follow separate review processes, including staff technical review and any required public hearings.
