BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — A proposed porta-potty rental business is now dead in the water after the Auburn City Council on Tuesday evening overwhelmingly denied its conditional use application after citing discomfort with the location.
That business, United Rentals, had planned to operate the rental and storage facility at 2490 S. College St., which sits next to the Auburn Softball Complex, Hampton Inn Hotel and other businesses.
The original business plan called for United Rentals to clean, store and rent out the sanitation equipment from the 3.5-acre lot.
That use would not have drastically deviated from the property’s current use, which stored and rented out equipment in the past. It was also unclear exactly how many porta-potties United Rentals would or could have stored at the facility.
However, with the location so close to Interstate 85 Exit 51 and the nature of the new proposed use, the council presented a nearly united front against the application. That overwhelming opposition came despite the council being complimentary of how the applicant’s representative, Michael Rogers, handled the entire process.
Before revealing he would oppose the application, Mayor Ron Anders thanked Rogers for his transparency and driving eight hours from El Dorado, Arkansas, to answer the council’s questions in-person.
“I am personally uncomfortable putting a distribution center for porta-potties in such a key, strategic place. That’s just my personal feeling. I am thankful for porta-potties and the purpose that they serve,” Anders said. “But to have one in that sensitive, strategic location personally makes me unsettled to say to our community, ‘This is a distribution center for porta-potties, welcome to Auburn.’”
However, Ward 8 Council Member Tommy Dawson, the only council member who voted in favor of the application, said Rogers had alleviated some of the concerns he had about the proposed facility heading into Tuesday’s meetings.
“When I first came here tonight, I was planning on voting no on this. But hearing that they’re going to clean them up and it’s going to be clean and neat and orderly, and I think [Rogers] seems like a good fellow,” Dawson said. “I think [Sonny Moreman] brought up a good point that it’s basically surrounded by trees.”
Before the final vote came, Rogers vowed that he and his clients were willing to work with the council to determine what additional requirements would be necessary to get the application over the finish line.
United Rentals must now wait at least a year before reapproaching the city to seek a similar conditional use for the property.
IN OTHER BUSINESS
- The council announced two openings on the Greenspace Advisory Board. Those terms will begin on Aug. 8 and end on Aug. 7, 2029. The council will make those appointments at its July 22 meeting.
- The council announced an opening on the Planning Commission. That unexpired term begins immediately and ends on July 31, 2028. The council will make that appointment at its July 22 meeting.
- The council approved a $136,497 contract with Alfa Laval to recondition a belt press located at the H.C. Morgan Water Pollution Control Facility.
- The council approved contracts with The Auburn Game Day Law Enforcement Corporation and local public safety agencies for supplemental public safety services for sporting events and other special events at Auburn University between Aug. 1 and July 31, 2026. The total value of those contracts is yet to be determined.
- The council approved a $121,900 contract with Floyd Service Company for the 2025 Yarbrough Tennis Center Indoor Courts light installation project.
- The council postponed acting on a $147,268 contract with FlashParking for parking access and revenue control system hardware and software for the Wright Street Parking Deck until its July 8 meeting.
- The council postponed acting on an $8,000 per month contract with LAZ Parking Georgia for management services at the Wright Street Parking Deck until its July 8 meeting.
- The council approved the rezoning of 15.5 acres located at the southeast corner of Beehive Road and Biltmore Lane from rural to industrial.
- The council postponed acting on the proposed rezoning of 10.1 acres located west of Wrights Mill Road and south of Interstate 85 from rural to development district housing until its July 8 meeting.
- The council approved a performance residential conditional use for the Duke Circle to build a 38-unit mixed-use development. That property is located at 1908 Opelika Road.
- The council approved an industrial conditional use for KFT Alabama Expansion to construct a 26,000-square-foot addition to an existing 87,000-square-foot manufacturing facility located at 272 Technology Parkway.
- The council approved a public service conditional use for the Shug Jordan Parkway Substation to operate an electric utility substation. That property is located at 1515 Shug Jordan Parkway.
- The council approved a $314,427 contract with Trane U.S. for a pool dehumidification unit for the enclosed pool at Lake Wilmore Park Recreation Center. That unit will allow for the pool to be heated during the winter.
