Auburn planners report 1,800 public inputs as comp-plan moves to draft future land-use map

City planners and the comprehensive-plan committee updated the council on the multi‑year comp‑plan process on Oct. 6, reporting broad public engagement and a schedule to move from inventory and analysis to a draft future land‑use map and actions.

"We had about 1,800 inputs so far," said Lauren Cafe, the city’s long-range planner, summarizing summer outreach that included adult and youth surveys, focus groups, three open houses, tabling at community events and an online engagement page. The team also reported roughly 1,000 visitors to the project's social‑pinpoint website.

Committee chair John Cleveland said the team has developed a draft vision statement and four guiding principles (resilience, connection, welcoming, intentionality). The committee will finalize the draft vision on Oct. 28 and will draft a future land‑use map, policies and actions between October and December. Public input on the draft map and policies is planned for January 2026, with a goal of finalizing the plan by mid‑2026.

The comp‑plan team said the study broke work into subcommittees (natural environment, built environment, people and services), invited citizen experts to augment data review, and intends the plan to be implementable rather than merely aspirational. Consultants will also provide a community-engagement summary and an "ideas wall" of geographically pinned public comments.

Next steps: the planning team will continue outreach in January (focus groups and open houses), develop the draft future land‑use map and complete a draft report by early 2026 for public review.

Ending: staff said materials and engagement summaries are posted online and will be updated; the committee asked councilors to direct interested residents to the social‑pinpoint page for ongoing input.