Auburn citizens concerned about the city's rate of growth will now have the opportunity to track all issued building permits on the city's new interactive construction permit map.
The interactive map, which is available on the city’s website, displays a red pin on every active construction permit in the City of Auburn.
Once an individual permit has been accessed, a collection of basic information and details are shown about the project.
“It’s a great tool for anybody that has any interest in new businesses or new developments happening in the City of Auburn,” said Bill Ham, mayor of Auburn. “It gives anyone that is interested the ability to see just what’s coming to our community and where it’s going to be.”
After plans for a new development on the lot which is currently home to the University Chevron were made public in October, Auburn locals again took their concerns before the City Council.
Disagreement over a student housing moratorium and the future growth of the City of Auburn has caused a divide in the community over the past year. The half-dozen citizens who took to the podium before the council on Oct. 20 inaugurated yet another round of debate.
One of the major issues for the citizens is a perceived lack of transparency on the part of the City Council and the planning department, according to those who spoke at the Oct. 20 meeting.
Several of the citizen speakers even accused the City Council of colluding with the real estate developers responsible for complexes such as 160 Ross and the new development on the corner of Glenn Avenue and College Street.
Ward 5 councilwoman Lynda Tremaine was sympathetic toward the citizens’ concern for transparency.
“I think there are things that could make this more transparent,” Tremaine said at the meeting. “I looked at Charleston, S.C. and their planning department has an interactive map.”
Several of the citizens at the October meeting which sparked the development of the new map believed the council had knowledge of the University Chevron project far before a construction permit was issued.
The city can’t make development projects public until a formal request is submitted, according to Charles Duggan, city manager of Auburn.
“It (an interactive map) wouldn’t necessarily change what we’re hearing,” Duggan said. “Until we were delivered a project, that project didn’t exist. Until they deliver it to us to review, there’s no real way for us to put that on the website.”
The public construction permit map is now refreshed on a daily basis to include any newly issued permits, including commercial, industrial and residential permits.
“Something like this would certainly help the public’s opinion,” Tremaine said. “We’re listening.”
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