Few seats were empty in the City Council chambers as the council met to discuss and vote on the Downtown Master Plan.
Before the vote took place, Mayor Bill Ham Jr. said the City Council would request to ask the Planning Commission to define and regulate student housing as a separate and distinct residential land use, establish an appropriate maximum building height, propose specific student housing in consideration of economic liability, location, infrastructure, capacity and maximum unit bedroom densities and come up with a plan to revitalize older student housing properties.
The council then voted to adopt the Downtown Master Plan.
Ward 5 Councilwoman Lynda Tremaine raised the issue of potential traffic if student housing is brought downtown.
To address some of the concerns, City Manager Charles M. Duggan Jr. said a traffic study is being conducted at the corner of Ross Street and Glenn Avenue.
Duggan said the study most likely will not affect the Downtown Master Plan, but will allow for engineers to predict how much traffic will be generated.
“Like across the street (at 160 North Ross Street), they see how many trips they think each unit is going to generate,” Duggan said.
According to Duggan, The study will also help see if roadway developments, such as new turn lanes, will need to be made in the future.
Citizens had a chance to speak up during citizens’ communications.
Auburn citizen Linda Dean said she believed a traffic study was a necessity before any other plans were made for downtown.
Dean said many believe less parking means less traffic, but she does not believe that and would like proof of the effects.
“People don’t just appear in their parking places like they’re transmitted there … you have to use arteries to go back and forth,” Dean said.
Stone Ray, freshman in architecture, disagreed with Dean.
Ray said a traffic study would not need to be required in regard to the future construction because building in new-urbanism style will ensure more students and residents are walking instead of driving.
Ray also said if the plan passed, the city would become more valuable.
“A place that is planned is so much more valuable than a place that is not,” Ray said.
In other City Council news:
Susie Gogue was granted another four-year term on the Lee County Youth Development Center Board.
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