FAQs

The City's Community Development Department is made up of many divisions that rely on public comment and engagement. We know that with all the various demands that you have on your time, attending public meetings isn't always possible. We have been exploring online engagement options for a while now, in an effort to find something that makes engagement easy and possible on one's own time. 

In addition, COVID-19 has greatly impacted our ability to engage with residents in our traditional methods, many of which involved in person meetings and interactions. We hope this tool will help everyone engage while staying safe and healthy!

The goal of this site is to provide everyone with an opportunity to engage with projects that are important to them on their own time and make their voice heard. As one of the smallest levels of government, the City (including the Community Development department) is operating within certain laws set by the other levels of government. These include county, state and federal governments. We do, however, have choices and options within the constraints set by those laws. We want you to provide us with your thoughts so that together, we can make the decisions that will shape the Auburn community. 

The Community Development Department is made up of five divisions:

1. Planning Services
   • Develop plans for managing growth
   • Develop policies and laws for environmental protection, zoning, and land use
   • Review project proposals for compliance with environmental protection, zoning and land use
2. Community Services
   • Provides funding and support to local non-profits
   • Operates a Housing Repair Program to provide home repairs to low income Auburn residents
   • Supports community engagement within the City
3. Development Services/Building Official
   • Process and approve building permits for the City
   • Review development proposals for compliance with civil engineering standards
   • Inspect development activity for compliance with approved permits
4. Code Compliance
   • Enforcement of adopted laws and standards
   • Administer City’s multifamily housing and property standards
5. Administration
   • Process and approve business licenses
   • Administer City parking permit program
   • Support Office of the Hearing Examiner and Planning Commission

To participate for the first time, simply:

1. Sign up for Speak Up Auburn by clicking on the "Register" button on the top right of the "About Us" page
2. Choose a username and password
3. Complete a few questions about yourself
4. You will receive an email to validate your email address
5. Return to the website and click the "Sign In" button
6. Navigate to the project you want to engage with and start clicking!

We do ask that participants register and create an account in order to submit feedback and engage on this site. The registration form will have you create a username and password. It will also ask for some information that will not be public when you use this site but will instead help City staff analyze the data collected to better understand who this platform is reaching. If we know who we are reaching, we will also know who we are not and can take steps to reach out to those groups. Our goal is to make sure everyone has an opportunity to engage with us!

Anyone can view the content on the site and some engagement opportunities will not require registration. However, most engagement opportunities will require you to be a registered participant. 

Yes, you can use this website anonymously. Even when you register and post comments, your anonymity is protected because you are identified by your chosen screen name.

All public comments are moderated 24 hours a day seven days a week, for inappropriate language, comments that disrespect other participants, and for comments that are off topic.

All moderation is carried out by Bang the Table and all moderation is independent to the City of Auburn. The moderators do not edit or alter any comments and will only remove comments deemed to be significantly off topic, offensive or malicious, in which case they are removed from the site immediately and the person who posted the comment is advised by email. 

The moderation policy including username rules and forum etiquette can be found here: https://speakupauburn.org/moderation. Please make sure you review this policy prior to engaging on the site.

Yes! Your privacy is absolutely protected, and the City will only use your email to contact you with updates. Your email address will not be distributed to any third party. 

View our full privacy policy.