The Citizen

AUBURN - A housing development for the city cleared a bureaucratic hurdle Thursday. But Auburn officials are still concerned about how the development could affect the surrounding neighborhoods.

City council unanimously approved a measure allowing the city Planning Board to be named the lead agency for an environmental review of the project. The resolution had been tabled at a previous meeting and the development will still have to be cleared by the Planning Board and council before it can become a reality, according to some councilors.

“Eventually, this will come back to us,” Mayor Michael Quill said after the meeting. “Every member of council has been contacted (by residents) about it.”

According to the project application, developer Homesite Development is looking to build 30 semi-detached residential units and a community building near Fulton and Rochester streets.

City councilors have said the expansion could have an impact on traffic, storm water management and even on local schools and local residents raised similar concerns last week during a Planning Board meeting.

The planning board took no action at that meeting and will revisit the application on Dec. 2.

“My concerns are for the neighborhoods up there,” said Councilor William Graney, who asked to have the item tabled at the last meeting. “It's a good project, but not for the area.”

In other news:

#&149; Auburn residents no longer have to go to the office of the city manager to receive a permit for placing building material in a public street. Councilors unanimously voted to change the city code and have those permits distributed through the codes enforcement department.

Council also made an amendment to the code, adding roll-up trash receptacles to the list of items for which one needs a permit to place on the street. Now the list of items in the statute includes building material, scaffolding, barricades and roll-off dumpsters.