Auburn, WA Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

29 ACC, is governed by design and development standards layered on top of the base zoning code. 070 adopts by reference a separate document, the downtown Auburn design standards, a copy of which the city clerk maintains for public review. Rather than spelling out every architectural rule in the code itself, the ordinance delegates authority to the community development director to apply those standards to specific development proposals and to approve amendments to them as downtown conditions change. This keeps the design guide flexible without requiring a code amendment every time a materials or streetscape standard is updated.

060 reinforce the design intent with hard numbers: any new structure in the DUC Core 75, Core 125, or H-W districts must reach a minimum height of two stories across the full extent of the building footprint, preventing single-story infill that would undercut the urban center's density goals. 070, and any sign that projects into the public right-of-way needs a right-of-way use permit. Freestanding pole signs are prohibited outright downtown; the only exception is a monument sign, capped at one per street frontage, a maximum size of 64 square feet (figured at one square foot per lineal foot of site frontage, with a 32-square-foot minimum entitlement), and a maximum height of five feet. 060 before finalizing elevations, since the design guide and the numeric development standards work together, not as substitutes for each other.