AUBURN — Councilors still seem unsure about parts of a new comprehensive plan, but they had most of their questioned answered Monday night.

Councilors hosted a special workshop with members of the city Planning Board and the Comprehensive Plan Committee to review the proposed plan — designed to guide city planning and development decisions for the next 10 years — chapter by chapter.

“I’ve been grappling with the best way to set agenda for this, and it seems the best way is to just go chapter by chapter,” Mayor Richard Gleason said.

Councilors last week said they were concerned that city regulations in general and the comprehensive plan specifically are too complex for residents and developers.

Rick Whiting, chairman of the Comprehensive Planning Committee, said the plan is designed to make things easier for developers and residents. The plan suggests changes that can be made to zoning rules to make them work with current uses and planned developments.

“But in the end, this document is pretty much noncommittal,” Whiting said. “It does not commit the city to a course of action.”

Councilors will schedule one more workshop to review the New Auburn master plan later this month, according to City Planner Eric Cousens. That plan is an appendix to the comprehensive plan.

Once councilors have reviewed the New Auburn plan, the entire comprehensive plan will go to the Planning Board for a public review and vote. They’ll recommend changes to city councilors. Councilors will schedule at least two public hearings on the plan.

Copies of the plan are available at the Planning and Permitting Office. An electronic version is available for download on the city’s website, www.auburnmaine.org.

Work on the new plan began in July 2007 with a group of 40 volunteers. It’s designed to guide future council and Planning Board decisions on zoning, land use and economic development. It looks at all aspects of life in the city, including population, transportation trends, possible commercial development and public finances.

The city’s last plan was written in 1995 and was designed to be a guide through 2005.

The plan is designed to shape development over the entire city, encouraging heavy growth in some areas, limited growth in some areas and no growth in others.

Councilor Mike Farrell asked why the plan did not call for filtering the city’s drinking water out of Lake Auburn. The Auburn Water District received a waiver from the federal government, exempting it from having to use a filtration system.

“If it’s something we may have to do, I don’t understand why we don’t consider it in this plan,” Farrell said. “I can’t understand why we’re so fearful of filtration.”

District Superintendent John Storer said that waiver should last until after 2020 if the district can maintain Lake Auburn’s water quality — avoiding between $20 million and $51 million in new costs.

Councilor Ray Berube said the plan should also call for updating the cast iron pipes delivering Auburn’s water.

“You can do all the filtering and treating of the water that you want,” Berube said. “But the water still has to travel through those rusty pipes to get to your customers.”

Storer said district capital plans do call for replacing city pipes.

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