Outraged citizens didn't need their five minutes of individually-allotted time during the citizen's communications part of the Auburn City Council meeting Tuesday. The meeting was well attended by parents of children who attend Hardy's Creative Childcare, which narrowly avoided being located just steps from a proposed bar on North College Street. The citizens brought their voices, their children and a petition with 836 signatures in opposition to the establishment.
However, Brandon Haynes, who proposed the bar, Flip Flops, contacted City Manager Charles Duggan Jr. before the meeting and asked that his proposal be pulled from the agenda.
"He asked for it to be removed from the agenda," Duggan said. "He said he is not pursuing that course of action at this time."
The parents left with their children, their voices and their petition and claimed victory.
"I'm glad the City Council took it seriously enough to hear Mr. Haynes also," said Jennifer Brooks, an Auburn resident. "I don't think he has bad intentions at all, but I'm glad it doesn't look like it's an option at this point."
Brooks said she would have liked to have a public hearing on the matter anyway, because the issues address the larger Auburn vision, particularly for downtown. Brooks said she thinks parents should get more of a voice in the decisions regarding the development of downtown.
Although the requested resolution before the council was only for a conditional use approval, citizens were already outraged the planning commission had approved the proposal at its March 12 meeting. One parent who did not leave the meeting early spoke on behalf of parents although she does not have children at Hardy's Creative Childcare.
"I think an interesting issue is the precedent that decision could have set," said Jennifer Foster, an Auburn citizen. "My kids do not go to Hardy's, but I do have kids in daycare and it concerns me that the planning commission basically had its back against the wall with that issue. I think what Mr. Haynes has done for Auburn is expose a hole in our zoning ordinances, that something like this could even be considered."
Foster asked the council to entertain the idea of reforming the city ordinances to address the issue of where it would be appropriate for a bar to be established. Mayor Bill Ham Jr. said the council had already been talking among themselves about addressing the issue, and assured Foster steps would be taken.
"I wanted to make a comment before the majority of the folks left, and that was while this council is really a group of volunteers and everybody knows everybody in this community it almost got out of hand to some degree," Mayor Ham said. "While the council has the ability to put conditions, as does the planning commission, the council was in a position where they would have made a decision either way. But I've heard councilmembers already saying tonight they want us to look at what may be a hole in the ordinance."
Haynes has been reported by the Opelika-Auburn News as saying he has been slightly turned off to Auburn because of the backlash from community members.
However, many of the same parents who were opposed to the location claim they are not opposed to the establishment of another bar in the area.
If Haynes decides to pursue another location for Flip Flops, he will have to begin the process all over again, beginning with the planning commission. At this point Haynes has said he is searching for another location for the bar.
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