BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN – Developers who build in Auburn will soon enjoy a greater range of freedom after the Auburn City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a long-overdue amendment to the city’s zoning ordinance.
That addition, known as a PUD, or planned unit development, will allow for the creation of developments on smaller lots than the city previously allowed. It also distances the city from its practice of occasionally creating individual rules in its zoning ordinance to address specific projects.
Before the council voted on the ordinance, Ward 6 Council Member Bob Parsons praised the efforts of Planning Director Justice Wahid Cotton and his staff to flesh out and finalize the ordinance.
“I think this is an excellent addition to the toolbox for this city,” Parsons said. “It offers a little bit of flexibility for both the city and developers, and I’m very pleased with the way it’s turned out.”
Mayor Ron Anders agreed with Parsons and touted the ordinance’s potential positive impact on development moving forward.
“Hopefully this reflects a good direction for our community to go in the future and it does add the ability to be creative and to be flexible in our developments. We look forward to what the outcomes could be,” Anders said. “We’ve got some excellent ideas floating around this town, and hopefully this gives them the opportunity to utilize some of those ideas.”
Previously, developments — primarily mixed-use developments — were mostly governed by PDDs, or planned development districts, which required such projects to be built on at least 10 acres. With the inclusion of PUDs, there are now no minimum lot size requirements, land use restrictions or density restrictions, which opens up a wider range of land for development.
During a March 12 workshop, city officials said they believe the addition of PUDs will give developers the freedom to propose increasingly unique and sophisticated projects that give the community a wide range of benefits.
Some of those benefits include publicly available facilities, open spaces, mixed uses, natural resource preservation, unique architecture, housing type diversity and connectivity via numerous modes of transportation.
While there are few restrictions, the inclusion of PUDs does not come without some limits.
The city has explicitly prevented developers from proposing PUDs in certain areas, such as neighborhood conservation districts, industrial districts, rural districts and existing PDDs.
Ward 7 Council Member Max Coblentz requested clarification about why those specific zoning types were excluded and asked if such restrictions could be removed in the future.
According to Wahid Cotton, those restrictions could be open for discussion a year from now once the city has more data on the impact PUDs have on the community. Those changes would require a vote from the city council.
Other notable restrictions include a 75-foot building height limit.
Before taking the final vote, the council also approved two amendments to the ordinance.
Those amendments require subsequent transactions or sales that occur on land within the PUD to remain bound by the PUD’s original terms and allow anyone who purchases property subject to a PUD to petition the city to terminate the PUD.
Such a petition would include a request to rezone the property and would be heard by the planning commission and city council, which would make the final decision according to the city’s rezoning criteria.
In other news, the council addressed several other items of business:
The council approved a $500,000 intergovernmental funding agreement with the Lee County Highway Department to construct a roundabout at the intersection of Society Hill Road and Moores Mill Road.
The council approved a $315,000 contract with Barge Design Solutions to provide professional engineering services to replace three pipes along East University Drive near Summertrees Drive.
The council approved a $31,343 contract with LexisNexis Risk Solutions to renew the Police Department’s Accurint Virtual Crime Center contract.
The council appointed Caitlin Allen to the Auburn Public Library Board. Her unexpired term begins immediately and ends on April 14, 2026.
The council approved a special events retail liquor license for Greenawalt Hospitality for an event to be held at Auburn University’s Brown Kopel Engineering Student Achievement Center on April 11.
The council approved a special events retail liquor license for Greenawalt Hospitality for an event the Auburn University Melton Center Black Alumni Awards and Sneaker Ball on April 5.
