What do you want the city of Auburn to look like 10 years from now?

City officials and planners want to hear its residents respond to this and other questions about Auburn's future.

On Saturday, the city will hold the first of two workshops meant to collect information for its upcoming comprehensive plan.

All members of the public are invited and encouraged to attend the workshops.

The events will be more interactive than traditional public forums, as attendees will participate in group exercises, discussions, surveys and other strategic activities.

The goal of the workshops is to identify the public's major priorities as city officials put together the 10-year plan, according to city Planning and Economic Development Director Jennifer Haines.

That means anything is on the table.

“This is not going to be city staff or consultants talking to people and giving presentations,” Haines said Wednesday. “It's going to be really interactive, with (city staff) listening more than anything else.”

The planning department is currently working with other city departments and consulting firm Saratoga Associates on the comprehensive plan, which officials have said should be finished by Sept. 2009.

The plan will essentially establish guidelines for the city's growth, and it will be the basis for future policy decisions on land use, housing, downtown, green energy and infrastructure, technology, transportation and other issues.

Because of this, it is important for citizens to participate, Haines said. Anyone who is interested in how the city develops needs to attend at least one of the meetings, she said.

“What they say here is really important,” Haines said. “They can be part of deciding how things will move forward.”

On top of the workshops, there will be a number of specific focus groups about the comprehensive plan in the coming months. But the topics brought up at the workshops will likely influence those discussed at the focus groups, Haines said.

A city's comprehensive plan has a direct impact on how budgets are put together and can affect whether or not the city receives state grants, City Manager Mark Palesh said. While officials have an “overall” idea on how that plan will look, he said, public input is an important part of the process.

After all, he continued, the citizens are the city. Palesh and the other staff work for them.

“This is an opportunity to get everyone's oar in the water who wishes to be heard,” Palesh said.

If you go

The two comprehensive plan workshops will have similar formats and take place at the following times and locations:

• 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Irene Bisgrove Theater, Cayuga Community College, 197 Franklin St., Auburn.

• 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Auburn Public Theater, 108 Genesee St., Auburn.

Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.