The Auburn City Council approved the development plan and proposed pre-zoning, re-zoning and annexation ordinances for The Foundry at North College, a new commercial and residential development. The council also approved other resolutions, contracts, easements and rights-of-way.
The Foundry will be a roughly 282-acre mixed-use development located between North College Street, Shug Jordan Parkway and North Donahue Drive. It will be the first large planned use development (PUD) in Auburn. It is planned to be largely commercial focused in Area 1, which is off of Shug Jordan Parkway. However, the development will be more mixed-use in Area 2 and predominantly residential in Areas 3 and 4. The project is planned to finish within 15 to 20 years.
The annexations required for the project included about 50 acres from The Auburn Place, LLC and roughly 76.97 acres from the Owens Family Partnership, LLC. Around 40% of the land will be preserved and conserved.
A map of the annexed, pre-zoned and re-zoned areas of The Foundry development site. The green represents VADA, LLC, blue represents Owens Family Partnership, LLC and the yellow represents The Auburn Place, LLC.
According to Ward 3 Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem Beth Witten, The Foundry should alleviate traffic on North College Street and North Donahue Drive, and provide over 200,000 square feet of commercial and service-oriented space to north Auburn. Witten also believes the project will allow residents to meet their daily needs without having to travel to the south side of town.
“I'm in support of the project,” Witten said. I think this is a great opportunity for not only Auburn but specifically the north side of Auburn.”
Before the council voted on pre-zoning for the PUD, Witten proposed three amendments to the re-zoning ordinance for The Foundry’s PUD.
The first amendment changed several Area 2 and some Area 3 and 4 use permissions from conditional to permitted. Most of the affected units are residential. This means that developers will have more liberty to decide which units to build and where. The amendment also changed the use permissions to allow for a daycare in Area 2 and car wash or detailing shop in Area 1, under certain conditions.
The second amendment lowered the minimum number of units, minimum impervious surface ratio and square footage of units. According to City Manager Megan Crouch, the changes were made to help the developers better fit units together in the area.
The third amendment was to the governing conditions of the development. It defined where the city’s family definition applies, which are two or more people in one residential unit where all members are related by blood, marriage, adoption, or guardianship up to the second degree of consanguinity, plus one unrelated person. 625 units in Areas 3 and 4 will be exempt from the definition and allow for up to five unrelated occupants.
In exchange, there will be no short-term rentals allowed in the entire development. Amongst other developmental standards, the amendment also requires increased architectural standards and the dedication and construction of part of the greenway during Phase 1 of the project.
The concept plan map for The Foundry.
After the council passed all items related to The Foundry, Ward 3 Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem Witten and Mayor Ron Anders Jr. thanked the city manager, staff and development. Anders also spoke about his hopes for the project.
“This has taken a lot of work, a lot of patience and a lot of communication,” Anders said. “We look forward to the outcome and for Auburn to be a better place to live and to new life because of this development.”
The council approved contracts to do a downtown drainage study and create a stormwater management model for $229,139, purchase a new work truck for Development Services for $33,570 and pine straw rolls for $80,000. It also authorized annexations for 3.46 acres at 645 County Road 25 and three acres at 4439 Sandhill Road.
Each agenda item and amendment in the meeting passed unanimously.
Citizens gather for the city council meeting on March 3 at 6 p.m.
During the public comment forum, several citizens came up to voice their approval, concerns and criticisms to the council.
The new office administrator for the Presbyterian Community Ministry thanked the mayor for attending their annual President’s Day luncheon, and the president of the Chamber of Commerce invited the council to ask any questions about its new facility.
One individual expressed concerns with the police department’s ability to handle mental health calls and advocated for adding social workers to the force. As a member of Indivisible Auburn-Opelika, she also thanked the police for patrolling during the protests.
Two citizens criticized the council and the city manager and accused them of silencing citizens’ voices, ignoring public records requests and only appointing people instead of having citizens vote.
During his allotted time, one citizen, Robert Wilkins, focused the bulk his criticism towards the city manager, who he believes is spending too much money without citizen involvement or attention to public records requests.
“The Auburn City Council is made up of good and respectful members but unfortunately are ill-informed,” Wilkins said. “They allow the city manager to belittle citizens who speak out while controlling information that hinders their decision process, which affects the Auburn citizens’ lives.”
According to a statement from Director of Communications Allison Blankenship, the city maintains that the city manager has done no wrongdoing nor has the city ignored public records requests.
”The City of Auburn is absolutely committed to following all Alabama laws pertaining to public records requests and have responded to Mr. Wilkins’ many requests,” Blankenship stated. “The City will continue to lawfully respond to any public records request received from any citizen, just as it has to-date, by providing them with existing public records or by explaining when there are no public records responsive to a request.”
During the announcements section, Anders nominated Robert Battle Jr., who works in Environmental Services, as employee of the month in a video. The video also listed the names and photos of city employees awarded for their years of service.
A video of Mayor Ron Anders Jr. (right) presenting Robert Battle Jr. the employee of the month award plays during the city council meeting on March 3 at 6 p.m.
Anders also thanked Auburn University students for their work at The Fight Against Suicide event and the Auburn University Dream Makers fundraiser.
The next city council meeting will be on March 17 at 6 p.m.
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