City of Auburn | Planning

Planning

Forrest E. Cotten, AICP
Director
Employees: 7 www.auburnalabama.org/pl webplanning@auburnalabama.org

Responsibilities

The Auburn Planning Department performs a variety of tasks that fall within one or more of the following three categories:

Comprehensive Planning addresses long range planning issues that relate to all services provided by the city. The department engages in comprehensive planning both within the City limits and in outlying areas regulated by the City's subdivision requirements. The Planning Department has developed an Auburn Interactive Growth Model (AIGM), which will serve as the basis for future land use planning decisions.

Regulatory Planning includes all work associated with the administration of the City's Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Regulations.

Data Management and Research involves the maintenance of several databases including demographic information and address updates for the decennial census, as well as zoning and land use data for the City of Auburn GIS.

Case Reviews

In FY 2011, Planning staff reviewed the following cases:

50 Administrative subdivisions
31 Conditional Uses
27 Variances
10 Annexations
14 Final plats
14 Preliminary plats
1 Rezoning
6 Waivers
3 Zoning Ordinance amendments
1 City Code amendment

Background

The Planning Department staff is responsible for the administration of the City’s Land Use Plan, Zoning Ordinance, and Subdivision Regulations. The Department reviews any new development plans or any proposed change in use throughout the City of Auburn. Specifically, the Department reviews annexation petitions, subdivision proposals (administrative, preliminary and final plats), zoning requests, conditional use approval requests, site plan approval requests, requests for any variance to the Zoning Ordinance, and requests for any waiver to the Subdivision Regulations.

The Planning Department provides staff support to a number of Boards and Commissions throughout the City including the Planning Commission, the Board of Zoning Adjustment, and the Historic Preservation Commission. Much of the business transacted by the Planning Commission requires ultimate approval from the City Council; therefore, a considerable amount of effort is expended in preparing planning-related information for the City Manager’s Office to place before the City Council for consideration at its bi-monthly meeting.

The Planning Department is also the home of the City’s zoning enforcement function. This includes the regulation of signage, banners, occupancy requirements, primary and accessory uses, and other zoning-related issues. In 2010, Planning staff issued 69 sign permits, 100 banner permits, and 217 zoning certificates.

Looking Foward to 2012

As 2011 comes to a close, the Planning Department is focused on two major initiatives for the coming year. The first is a phased implementation of CompPlan 2030 which was formally adopted by the City Council in October. This initiative will include multiple rounds of amendments to the zoning ordinance over a multi-year period with the highest priority amendments being tackled first. The standard deliberative process for these amendments will ensue in early 2012, with scheduled work sessions with the Planning Commission to be followed by required public hearings before both the Commission and City Council.

CompPlan 2030 identified the Opelika Road corridor as a high priority redevelopment area. As such, this corridor will be undergoing an evaluative process utilizing the resources of both the Planning and Economic Development Departments combined with outside consultative assistance to develop a specific redevelopment plan for this centrally located and vital commercial corridor. It is expected that recommendations from the redevelopment plan, once completed, will also require significant changes to the zoning ordinance. Therefore, these amendments, in addition to the amendments that will be necessary for the implementation of CompPlan 2030, will be moving forward on parallel tracks in the coming year.