A new grocery store development is coming to the corner of Shug Jordan Parkway and North Donahue Drive.
The Auburn City Council voted 6 to 3 for a resolution allowing the property to be developed on the condition the developer build a fence around a retaining pond and back property line at the City Council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 6.
The proposed development plans call for a 40,000-square-foot retail space, a gas station and a fast-food restaurant.
Residents of the Cary Woods neighborhood showed up to the meeting to voice their opposition to the development. Cary Woods sits behind the planned retail space.
Mark Tippins, real-estate attorney and Cary Woods resident, said he thought residents could accept the development if the landowners, Owens Family Partnership LLC, would guarantee a 400-foot nature buffer between the development and the neighborhood.
"This is a very undevelopable piece of property in my personal opinion," Tippens said. "It's just a dog piece of property. It'd be a good dog park."
Tippens said he wanted the City Council to table the resolution so he could attempt to talk to landowners into creating a conservation easement of 400 feet adjacent to Carey Woods.
Real estate agent Brent Gladden spoke on behalf of the Owens Family Partnership before the City Council.
Gladden said the Owens Family Partnership was open to creating a conservation easement, but only after the development deal was finalized.
According to Land Trust Alliance's website, a national conservation organization, a conservation easement is a legal agreement between a property owner and a land trust or government that permanently limits the use of the land.
Auburn Planning Department Director Forrest Cotten said because the 400 feet of land between the development and Carey Woods was not part of the property development the City Council could not make a conservation easement one of the conditions of the resolution.
The Auburn Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the resolution at their Dec. 11 meeting. The resolution then went to the City Council on Dec. 16 and was tabled until Jan. 6.
Cary Woods resident Ashley Aston said the timing of the meetings just before and after the holidays has made it difficult to get more residents to come out.
"All we're asking for here is a few more weeks," Aston said. "I just feel like (the Council) can work with us on that."
After more than an hour of hearing from the public and council members asking questions, Councilman Gene Dulaney moved for approval of the resolution with the condition a fence be built around a planned retaining pond and along the back property line.
"I do believe that this developer is a good developer and I'm proud they've chosen Auburn to come and do a development," Councilman Ron Anders said. "But I can't in good conscious vote for this knowing how unsettled my ward is about it, so I'll be voting no."
Council members Beth Witten, Lynda Tremaine and Anders voted no on the resolution.
According to Cotten, unless the plans for the development are drastically changed, it will not come before the City Council or Planning Commission again.
Below is the plan for the property submitted to the City Council:
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