BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN – A massive mixed-use development in north Auburn must again wait for initial approval after the Auburn City Council on Feb. 3 voted to postpone votes on various annexations and zoning ordinances for the second time in as many meetings.
Council members ultimately decided to hold those votes on March 3 to give the city more time to draft a development agreement with the developer, Jolly Development, to be approved alongside those votes.
If approved in roughly a month, the city would annex 127 acres north of Hickory Dickory Park and west of the Publix located on E. University Drive and re-zone 282 acres to become a planned unit development zoning district.
That would pave the way for the creation of The Foundry at North College, a mixed-use development that would feature multi-family apartments, single-family homes, offices and commercial space.
Forty-one percent of the development would also be reserved as green space to provide walking trails and mitigate potential flooding since Sougahatchee Creek runs along the development’s northern property line.
While documents included in Tuesday’s meeting packet did not include figures on how many apartments and homes would ultimately be built, images show that it will likely generate hundreds of housing units.
According to Jolly Development owner Warren Jolly, the project should be completed over the course of 10 to 15 years and in numerous phases next to the new Plains High School, which is expected to open in fall 2028.
“We’ve been working on this project for more than two and a half years with the [land] sellers,” Jolly said. “We thought this would be the perfect property because of some of the issues with the flood plain and topography and what we’re trying to do with the mixture of uses, that this would be a great case for a [planned unit development].”
City Manager Megan McGowen Crouch characterized the proposal as a win for the city since it brings two separate parcels that had remained outside the city limits under the city’s jurisdiction.
The project, which is also believed to be the fire major project to go through the planned unit development process in city history, would also give Auburn residents a new type of community to live in.
“What we were hearing from developers and citizens is we’re not seeing all the things we would like to see in Auburn from an architectural standpoint, amenities standpoint and what have you,” Crouch said. “It gives us the advantage of having some different housing types and other things we wouldn’t normally see. Our zoning ordinance struggles to keep up with current housing trends and things our citizens want. And this was part of the goal here: to provide that flexibility.”
However, not everybody in attendance was fully on board. Liz Strane urged the council to consider protecting the property’s natural tree cover as much as possible as the process moves forward.
“I moved to Nashville for law school, and I was so excited to be back in Auburn, it’s my favorite place in the world,” Strane said. “I hope me being here shows you how much people in my age demographic love Auburn. People that are not married with children, but people that are young professionals, young lawyers, we love Auburn. Something that really brought me back to Auburn was the wildlife, the nature, the greenery, the trees, so just keep that in mind.”
In other news, the council addressed several other items of business:
- The council approved an additional $12,950 for an existing contract with ACAI Construction Testing for the Boykin-Donahue campus project. That additional money will go toward removing unsuitable soil on N. Donahue Drive and additional tests on Porter Avenue.
- The council approved a $139,422 contract with Safe Air Corporation for the installation of diesel exhaust ventilation systems at Fire Stations 2, 3, 4 and 5.
- The council accepted public rights-of-way from the Industrial Development Board of the City of Auburn at 430 Webster Road.
- The council approved a $4.42 million contract with D&J Enterprises for the FY26 Resurfacing Project, which includes 47 different roads across Auburn.
- The council approved a $198,879 contract with ProLogic ITS for upgraded equipment and related installation for 11 police vehicles.
- The council voted to relinquish various public ingress, egress, drainage, water and utility easements on Gidden Street to Bloomfield Holdings, 810 MLK and NEOH Holdings.
