The Auburn City Council formally declared the City a Purple Heart City Tuesday night in honor and recognition of veterans who have been wounded or killed in service of their country.
Van Daughtry, a recipient of the Purple Heart, presented the City with a Purple Heart City sign in recognition of the decision. He also brought a statement from the Purple Heart Department of Alabama.
The statement recognized Auburn’s decision to become a Purple Heart City and expressed the department’s gratitude toward the City for their action to advance the Purple Heart distinction.
“Being a Purple Heart recipient, I never intended to be one but I am,” Daughtry said. “There are a lot of us here who have made that walk and can talk that talk, but I do appreciate the City of Auburn having us here tonight.”
During the meeting, the City also approved a tax abatement of approximately $57,000 for ID Plastics LP Property.
The company manufactures a variety of technical plastic products and plans to invest $9.8 million to open its first U.S. operation in Auburn.
“ID Plastics ultimately will be hiring up to 50 of our citizens and investing almost $10 million in our community,” Mayor Ron Anders said. “It’s been a great year and our economic development team has done a great job this year.”
There were a number of split votes during the meeting as well, one regarding a zoning change and the other involving student housing.
The first issue was a proposal to rezone a property at 2826 Cox Road from Rural to Comprehensive Development District. Doing this would allow the owner to change the property from a residential zone to a zone that supports commercial use.
Those against the rezoning opposed the proposal because of the potential effects that a commercial property in a predominantly residential area would have on the residents of that area.
“Normally, I am big on property owners’ rights, but knowing these people like I do, knowing the area and the neighborhood, I really can’t support the rezoning of this property right now,” said Ward 8 Council member Tommy Dawson.
According to Council members, the request for rezoning was brought before the Council two years ago and denied.
Council member Beth Witten said the Council decided that it wasn’t the right time for the rezoning then, but now it is.
“When we had this in front of us two years ago, we stated it wasn’t the time,” Witten said. “We are here and this is a zoning request, and we have already demonstrated that we support the future land use plan by rezoning the adjacent property to the applicant’s property to CDD.”
The vote was 5 to 3 in favor of rezoning, with Ward 4 Council member Brett Smith abstaining from the vote.
The other issue brought up was the conditional use approval of two Academic Detached Dwelling Units, 5-bedroom houses meant for student living, in a Neighborhood Redevelopment District.
The request for approval of the two units on a property located at Canton Avenue was denied in a 7 to 2 vote.
The Council also heard an ordinance concerning a private dormitory on Armstrong Street. That issue was tabled to the Nov. 5 City Council meeting so Council members could have more time to get more information on the project.
Editor's Note: The print version of this article in the Oct. 17, edition of The Plainsman contained an error stating the City Council tabled a vote on two Academic Detached Dwelling Units on Canton Avenue. The Council voted 7 to 2 to deny the units on Canton Avenue and tabled a vote on a private dormitory on Armstrong Street. The online version reflects that change. We sincerely regret the error.
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