The Boykin Community Center auditorium was filled with Auburn citizens Thursday night who came out to pose their questions about the downtown building height increase, a rural property rezoning, potential Richland Road high school and short-term housing rentals to the Ward 2 Auburn City Council candidates.
The five candidates present began answering questions as the forum began at 6:30 p.m. Candidate Kelly Griswold was absent due to being on a trip with his wife, planned before he decided to run in the election.
Hal Walker was the first to answer the question of whether or not the 75-foot building height increase was appropriate. He disagreed with the increase, and said that the hometown feel of Auburn is why people are attracted to the city.
“Auburn has been known as the loveliest village, and it is slowly evolving into something other than that,” Walker said.
Walker called for more student housing on campus.
Stephen “Kyle” Moseley and Anthony Brock agreed that the height change was inappropriate. Brock said a focus should be placed on building more affordable housing in communities for Auburn residents.
“Neighborhoods are being taken over by student housing,” Brock said.
Todd Scholl, Director of Sales and Marketing for The Hotel at Auburn, said that aesthetics should also be considered instead of building height alone.
“I think each development as they come need to be taken on their merits,” said Scholl. “From a project perspective, I’m a hotelier.”
Scholl agreed with Walker that more dorms should be built on campus, and said he thought the student housing units could have been built more aesthetically pleasing.
Phil Chansler said that the height change was appropriate due to the rapid growth that Auburn is experiencing.
“If we want to keep a vibrant, exciting, happening place downtown, some of that rapid growth is going to happen there,” Chansler said. “People want to be downtown. Now we have to manage what we have.”
The candidates also voiced their position on short-term housing rentals in traditional neighborhoods. Some homeowners rent their houses to travelers spending the night in Auburn on game days, for example.
Brock said he was not against the concept, “If we can work it out to where it can effectively help Auburn.”
Scholl said that, “As a capitalist, I understand if you want to leave town… I’m not opposed to it with one caveat. I need someone that lives in his house there.”
Scholl said the owner should be available in case there were problems with the house while renters were occupying it.
Chansler said short-term rentals were generally a good idea and people should have the right to rent their homes, but in a traditional neighborhood with lots of people involved, there is an issue of considering your neighbor.
Walker said he was “not a fan” of short-term housing from the legal standpoint of insurance companies possibly not covering a damaged house if it was the fault of the renter. Walker also said that people who want to rent out their homes should be required to apply for a business license and pay taxes like any other small business.
Moseley and Scholl also thought that taxes should be collected on short-term housing rentals.
The candidates were asked their opinion on the zoning issue or lack of on the currently rural property at the corner of North Donahue and Farmville. In May, the Auburn City Council voted down a proposal to rezone the nearly 14-acre property to allow businesses to build there. After this decision, the property owner, developer Tom Hayley, filed a lawsuit against the city of Auburn and the five council members that voted against the proposal.
Chansler said he opposed the proposal as the plan was badly designed, but said the area will be commercial someday.
Walker also agreed with the council’s decision to not develop the land, but said there eventually will be some type of retail in the area, hopefully a nice development.
“I think there’ll be a day when a lot of the people from… the preserve would be thrilled to get in their car and five minutes later be walking back in the house with a half gallon of milk,” said Walker.
Moseley said the best option was for the city to annex the property, but plan to develop aesthetically pleasing businesses, not a big box store.
Brock said the city needs to get the opinions of the community before letting businesses develop the area.
“What we’re finding out is that we are pretty much being bullied by developers,” Brock said.
Scholl said that people in nearby Camden Ridge and Donahue Ridge are not opposed to development on the property, but that Haley didn’t have a plan in his proposal.
“We aren’t learning what he wants to do with that property,” Scholl said. “We know, through history, of what he has developed in Auburn, what has happened. And his parcels are eyesores. They are an affront to this beautiful, beautiful place.”
Scholl received applause from the audience for his comments.
“He needs a lesson on how to be an adult,” Scholl said of Haley.
The candidates also answered if they opposed or supported the building of a second high school on Richland Road. All the candidates opposed a high school in this location.
“Richland is a dead end,” said Scholl. “So until there’s a connector to [Route] 14, until there’s a bypass to [U.S. Highway] 280, I absolutely oppose the high school going onto Richland Road.”
Scholl suggested a high school further out from campus, near Farmville Road with quicker access to Highway 280.
Walker said three schools should never be within a half mile of each other.
Brock was also opposed to the high school, adding that, “We can’t do a detour of trying to annex… the traffic through neighborhoods just to get to Highway 14. That’s something that cannot happen.”
Implementing transparency was another issue that the candidates discussed. The candidates were all in favor of live broadcasting council meetings in some format.
“I think here in Auburn we have a deficiency in news in getting things timely,” said Walker, who suggested that the city partner with Auburn University to implement video or audio access to meetings.
Moseley said that he plans for citizens to contact him through his personal cell phone number.
Brock said that people have lost trust in Auburn as, “They’re finding out way too late of what’s going on, and what’s being built, and it’s discouraging because it’s not what they thought was going to happen.”
Chansler said that one issue is educating people on planning, development and other government processes so they understand the issues.
“You can get some of the transparency by understanding the process first,” Chansler said.
The municipal election will be held Aug. 28.
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