Auburn committee kicks off comprehensive-plan update; consultant outlines 16-month timeline and broad public engagement

The Auburn Comprehensive Planning Committee opened its first substantive meeting on Feb. 24, 2025, and retained Barry Dunn consultants to lead a citywide comprehensive-plan update that the firm said will run roughly 16 months and aim for state approval under Maine planning requirements.

Kevin Price, project principal at Barry Dunn, told the committee the project will proceed in phases: an inventory and analysis from March through June, a community-visioning and engagement phase through August, a policies-and-action-plan phase from September through March 2026, and a final plan targeted for June 2026. "We will work toward meeting Maine's Growth Management Act requirements and state approval with the city as well," Price said.

The consultant team described a multi-channel engagement approach intended to reach residents who do not typically attend meetings. "We want this to be a transparent process," Ally Toby, senior consultant and project manager, said, describing an online Social Pinpoint portal, community surveys, pop-up events, focus groups and "meeting-in-a-box" materials for neighborhood groups.

John Cleveland, chair of the Comprehensive Planning Committee, said the committee will use subcommittees and public input to refine topics and recommended that members review existing plans and the consultants' past work ahead of the next meeting. "There'll be opportunity for the public to participate in areas where they may have subject expertise or interest," Cleveland said.

Committee members pressed the consultants to reach residents who are not in the room, including young people and non-English speakers. "I think that we would be doing Auburn a disservice if we don't capture a lot of feedback from the young people of Auburn," committee member Dana Staples said. The consultants said the Social Pinpoint platform supports translation and that they will work with the city and local organizations to reach diverse communities.

Technical work and deliverables were discussed: Barry Dunn said it will request state and city data to support the inventory, produce GIS story maps for public access and incorporate local GIS layers into the plan. The firm identified Woodard & Curran and VHB as subconsultants for engineering, transportation and resiliency expertise.

City staff said the planning office will soon add a long-range planner to work with the committee and the consultant team; Planning Director David Hediger, who had been on the job "48 hours" at the meeting, said staff and consultants are reviewing more than a dozen applicants for that position. "We'll be reviewing those over the next week and hopefully scheduling interviews fairly quickly," said Eric Cousins, public services director.

Public comment included one resident who urged more downtown infill development and mixed-use, walkable blocks in the Great Falls Plaza and downtown area. "I'd love to see more infill, more smaller buildings, kind of all mixed in to the downtown," the resident, identified in the record as Arison, said.

The committee and staff agreed next steps: the consultants will draft a community engagement plan and a project work plan to share with the committee at the March meeting, and staff will assemble available city and state data for the inventory phase. Committee members were asked to propose community organizations to involve in outreach and to review past comprehensive-plan materials before the next meeting.

Votes at a glance: The committee approved minutes for Dec. 17, 2025, and Jan. 28 (year recorded in packet). The Dec. 17 minutes were moved by Dana Staples and seconded by Paul Jacques and approved unanimously. The Jan. 28 minutes were moved and seconded on the record but the transcript does not specify who moved and who seconded; the committee recorded unanimous approval.

The committee adjourned after about an hour of introductions, consultant presentations and committee discussion. Staff and the consultant team will return a draft engagement strategy for committee review at the next meeting, with an emphasis on reaching underrepresented groups and youth.