Change is coming to the neighborhood north of Auburn Regional Medical Center.
Last week, city officials and police heard what the people who live and work there think about more healthcare businesses, more professional offices, taller buildings and block watch programs. The group included the City of Auburn’s Planning and Community Development Committee and city staff, including transportation planners and the city’s emergency manager.
For the most part, residents said they wanted to keep things as they are in their neighborhood north of City Hall. The area is already home to 19 businesses and 45 single-family residential homes, among them the historical Blomeen House on B Street Northeast. The medical center and healthcare-related offices dominate the business landscape.
One woman wondered whether “more” was physically possible.
“I have lived in my neighborhood 23 years this week, and we’re talking about future plans, more businesses, more growth,” she said. “There’s no parking in some of these neighborhoods now at all! So help me please understand where more is going to go?”
Parking was in fact the major source of angst, especially as it concerned the neighborhood north of Third Street Northeast.
One woman complained about the rash of tickets the city’s parking enforcement officer has been handing out to homeowners in the 500 block of A Street Northeast, many, she said, the result of home-based business owners reporting their neighbors to police for parking on the street.
Resident Curtis Smith challenged city officials to reconsider the city’s policy requiring homeowners to foot the bill to remove graffiti.
Current city ordinance gives the owner 15 days to paint over the graffiti. But Councilwoman Lynn Norman said the city is about to trot out a new policy that will start with a call to code enforcement.
“Either we will provide the paint, and we have a selection you can choose from, or if you feel you need help painting, we have crews that will come out and help you paint it,” Norman said.
Committee members are in the first stages of considering a land-use change for the neighborhood by establishing a Healthcare District Overlay, a special zoning district that identifies specific areas of the city with unique features or where special approaches allow flexible development standards.
Planning Director Cindy Baker said such a district would enhance community services and promote development of health care and related facilities in the area surrounding the hospital.
Baker said planners are considering the special district not only to assess land uses north of Third Street Northeast, but to capitalize on the hospital as a catalyst for healthcare-use-related development and to preserve the existing single-family neighborhood north of Third Street Northeast.
“We will evaluate all the different aspects, from traffic to the economic rationale to the socioeconomic. We will look at whether you have environmental issues, the heights of buildings, we will look at all aspects, from the human side to the built construction,” Baker said.
“One of the things we never hear from people about are sidewalks,” said Transportation Planner Joe Welsh. “Do they work for you, or are there places you would like to see more pedestrian access? We would really like to know that.”
“On B Street we have some of the worst sidewalks in this area, and we have addressed it before. Is that going to be our expense or will the city take care of it?” asked B Street resident Pat Crandall.
Welsh said that would ultimately be a City Council decision.
The city has mailed out surveys asking for input.
One of the key questions centers on parking in the residential neighborhood north of Third Street Northeast. Sample parking options include:
• Retain 72-hour parking restrictions throughout the neighborhood with no change to the present on-street parking requirements;
• Implement a maximum two-hour, on-street parking restriction throughout the neighborhood from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday;
• In addition to the two-hour restriction, implement a permit parking zone from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. This would limit parking to residents and their guests during specified hours by obtaining a permit from the city.
The open house also provided people a chance to talk with staff and councilmembers and find out about such city services and programs as Block Watch, Map Your Neighborhood, and the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
