AUBURN — The City Council will appoint two of its members to serve on a work group tasked with updating Auburn’s comprehensive plan over the next year.
The plan, a tool used by municipalities to guide its long-term needs and policymaking efforts, was last updated in 2010, and is up for its 10-year review.
The city has been working with staff and the Planning Board to develop an ad hoc committee that will draft the updated plan.
The work group will consist of two councilors, two Planning Board members, the mayor, a School Committee member and three “legacy members” of the 2010 Comprehensive Plan Committee.
According to a council memorandum, staff estimates the effort to use 290 hours of staff time and cost $19,000.
The comprehensive plan was adopted in April 2011 and, according to the memo, has been “periodically updated to address changing circumstances.”
But, it states there are several areas that have been identified that are “in need of reconsideration.”
The memo states those include discussion of recreation and river access; expanding form-based code in the downtown area to reduce setbacks and density limitations in urban neighborhoods; a potential turnpike exit “near 136 and/or south Main Street,” and an “Industrial Transition Zone” near South Witham Road.
The work group will convene at least monthly between September and July 2021 to “review topics identified by the Planning Board and council, identify solutions and make recommendations on challenges and opportunities.”
Any proposed updates to the comprehensive plan would go before the Planning Board and City Council for final approval.
The City Council will hold a workshop discussion Tuesday on buying body cameras for all 54 sworn officers of the Police Department.
The city was on track to include the expense in next year’s Capital Improvement Plan, and Chief Jason Moen has mentioned the purchase during previous talks on policing in Auburn.
“This represents a substantial step towards maintaining the transparent relationship we have with our community,” a council memo states. A policy will be established to provide guidelines on “camera activation, video retention, video redaction and dissemination of video,” it said.
Moen told the council in July that “nine times out of 10, the video validates the good job officers are doing.”
According to the memo, the body camera system would cost $277,000 and be “interoperable” with the in-car camera systems purchased in this year’s Capital Improvement Projects budget.
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