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 2012, Planning staff reviewed the following cases:

60 Administrative subdivisions
28 Conditional Uses
35 Variances
11 Annexations
13 Final plats
13 Preliminary plats
10 Rezoning
22 Waivers
5 Zoning Ordinance amendments

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 FY 2012, Planning staff issued 92 sign permits, 62 banner permits, and 297 zoning certificates.

Looking Forward to 2013

As 2012 comes to a close, the Planning Department is focused on three major initiatives for the coming year. The first is implementation of the “Renew Opelika Road” plan that is scheduled for completion in December 2012. This effort will require modifications to our existing zoning regulations in order to encourage new development and redevelopment that will revitalize the Opelika Road corridor.

The second initiative is the commissioning of a Downtown Master Plan for Auburn. This comes on the heels of one of the major recommendations of CompPlan 2030, which was to expand the downtown west to Donahue Drive, north of campus, and south to Reese Avenue along the South College Street and South Gay Street corridors.

Last, but not least, is the continued implementation of other recommendations set forth in CompPlan 2030, including refinement of the land use plan for the new Auburn Technology Park Interchange (Exit 50) and review and refinement of impervious surface ratio (ISR) requirements in the City’s zoning ordinance.