After Mayor Bill Ham called a city council meeting, several business owners with establishments along Magnolia Avenue expressed their concerns regarding Fan Fest. which will take place on August 25.
The original plan for this event hosted by the Auburn Downtown Merchants, Auburn University Athletics and AuburnArt.com involved closing the Toomer's Corner intersection to erect a 25-foot-long movie screen.
"This group can speak for themselves, but I don't think anyone is interested in deterring your business because you're bringing in tax dollars," Ham said.
However, members voted to have the event as planned while exploring an alternative to the large screen, such as finding a power source to move the event to the corner of Gay Street and Magnolia Avenue or to Samford Lawn.
Once Ham closed all communications, a representative of the Moore's Mill community spoke against the removal of the requirement to construct a pass within phase four of the Moore's Mill Golf Club. Several other concerned citizens also stood in opposition of the road construction that would take place south of Moore's Mill Road and west of Ogletree Road and would connect the multi-family area to a commercial area.
The committee denied the motion.
"For planning purposes, that connection has been removed but there is another more formal step to actually effectuate it," said City Planner Charles Duggan.
The next issues tabled at the meeting included the annexation of property located on the west side of Heath Road and south of Lee Road 086 as well as the possession and consumption of alcohol at an established entertainment district.
Duggan initially addressed the issue of possession and consumption of alcohol. First, he mentioned that the council had previously allowed four events per year where alcohol is allowed. Due to past success, there has been a request to increase the preestablished quota to eight events per year. Secondly, Duggan proposed the establishment of an entertainment district that would create boundaries where citizens can openly drink alcoholic beverages.
"There's a difference between the arts crowd at an art exhibit walking around with a glass of chablis and somebody walking out of Skybar with a drink of whiskey," said Bob Norman, city council member. "We have a large population of potentially irresponsible consumers of alcohol."
He went on to say he thinks Auburn should be cautious about this, and consent will be denied while he mulls it over in the coming weeks.
Next, the establishment of a "no turn on red" sign at the intersection of North Donahue and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive passed. Tuscany Village Drive's name was also changed to Tivoli Village Drive.
Finally, Sarah Brown and Matt Rice were voted onto the Planning Committee and Alice Moore Buchanan and Jack Walls were voted onto the Greenspace Advisory Board.
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