Photo / Maureen Milliken
St. Louis Church, on Dunn Street in Auburn, is one of seven properties the city has listed for sale.
March 24, 2021
Auburn's development vision is quickly becoming reality
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Part of Auburn's development strategy is to sell city-owned property, particularly vacant lots, including this one next to the newly development Anniversary Park on the banks of the Androscoggin River.
By Maureen Milliken
If it seems like the city of Auburn has a new announcement every week about a development addition or initiative, it's because it does.
"We have a vision," Mayor Jason Levesque told Mainebiz this week. He said the vision includes strengthening the city's economic, residential and jobs foundations.
The difference between Auburn and many other cities and towns with a similar vision is that it's being made reality with a slew of actions. They include revamping Auburn's planning and economic development department in November to streamline the process, adding an urban planner to the mix this week, waiving or reducing residential and construction fees for veterans, putting seven city properties on the market, among other efforts. It's all backed by a can-do city council, staff and planning board, he said.
Levesque earlier this year called for 2,000 new homes to be built in the city in the next five to seven years. That comes as the city had a 16.6% increase in home sales in 2020.
The city of nearly 24,000 is ripe for development — less than 50% of its 67 square miles are developed, construction on a new $105 million Edward Little High School began last week and a recent focus on downtown and neighborhoods has opened up opportunities to businesses and developers.
Levesque and City Manager Phil Crowell said much of the impetus comes from a City Council that is laser-focused on development.
While there's a lot going on, "We're being strategic," Crowell said. He means that literally — the development initiatives follow a strategic plan agreed to by the council in 2019. The 35-page plan came after input from 100 people and three committees.
The plans recommendations focus on protecting and enjoying natural resources, developing downtown management districts, identifying industry clusters, defining neighborhoods, supporting housing and neighborhood rehabilitation and more.
Levesque said the strategy is working.
"I get calls from developers every day," he said. Not only ones from out of town, but local people, too.
The city has developed nearly 1 million square feet in new industrial and retail development over the past couple of years, and recent additions include a new Target store, a Chipotle restaurant downtown on Center Street and Holy Donut on Minot Avenue.
City property for sale
At the beginning of the month, the city announced it had listed seven city-owned properties for sale, including St. Louis Church and six vacant lots.
Crowell says that, so far, city staff has met with several developers and there is serious interest in at least three of the properties.
"We're excited," he said. He said something official may happen within the next month or so.
The property, much of it in the New Auburn neighborhood, and listed by Boulos Co., includes:
- A 0.43-acre lot on Mechanics Row, downtown;
- A 0.74-acre developable parking lot at 131 Main St;
- A 6,800-square-foot site at 186 Main St., on the banks of the Androscoggin River.
- A 0.22-acre lot at 261 Main St.;
- A 1.11-acre lot at 15 Academy St.;
- An 8,000-square-foot pad site at Anniversary Park;
- The 9,742-square-foot 100-year-old St. Louis Church building on 0.56 acres at 32 Dunn St. in the New Auburn neighborhood.
One successful example of city underused property being developed is 48 Hampshire, a 53-unit mixed-income residential building by Szanton Co. that opened last June on what had long been a vacant dirt lot the city used for parking.
Crowell said, at the city council's direction, staff is working on identifying more property to list. He and Levesque said selling the property accomplishes a variety of things — it infills vacant downtown land, brings development and tax dollars, generates energy and helps restore neighborhoods.
"Every vacant lot in a city is a missed opportunity," Levesque said.
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque, left, speaks that the ribbon-cutting for 48 Hampshire St., built by Szanton Co. in what had long been a vacant lot.
Residential development
The Planning Board Thursday will take its first look at a proposal to allow accessory dwelling units on property, which is slated for a vote April 5.
Crowell said allowing detached "in-law dwellings" will give homeowners the chance to house an aging parent or another dependent on their own property, freeing up needed housing in the city. The ordinance would allow the units anywhere in the city where two-unit dwellings are allowed.
The current law requires an in-law unit be attached to the main building or contained within it, but Crowell said that's not always possible.
The City Council last week also agreed to waive or reduce permit fees for veterans, or the widow or widowers of veterans, for both residential and commercial construction.
The Veteran Relocation and Development Incentive Program waives or reimburses fees for the veteran — or a contractor on their behalf — upon permit approval for new construction or to rehabilitate a property. It applies to owner occupied, single-family and multifamily units up to three units.
For commercial construction there is a 50% fee reduction/reimbursement for new construction or rehabilitating a property at the time of approval for a veteran-owned business or subcontractor the owner has hired.
One new project is a mapping project of the city that takes in homes, places for infill projects and more, by Rosemary Mosher, the city's GIS director. Information is available to property owners about what's available for housing rehabilitation and other programs.
Restructured, streamlined process
In November, the city restructured its economic development department, which is now three units that include Economic Development; Business and Community Development; and Planning, Permitting and Code. New department heads were named, and the point is to streamline the development process and give developers "one-stop shopping," city officials said.
"They're all in their own lane, but they work together," Crowell said.
Last week, the city announced it had added an urban development specialist. John Blais, who was hired for the position, is assigned to the planning arm of the economic development department and will oversee a variety of projects, Crowell said.
"It's a unique position and he's going to take a look at a variety of different things," with the attention on special downtown projects, Crowell said.
Crowell said the restructuring also helped sort out the city's Community Development Block Grant program. Glen Holmes, the new director of business and community development, who came to the city from Community Concepts, has reviewed what the city is doing with projects that are funded with the money, and whether there's any that can be used better.
The city has streamlined the permitting process, cutting down on red tape and paperwork. Crowell said that a big part of the new process is that once developers go before the planning board, they've already worked with the city and a lot of the hurdles have been cleared.
One goal is to get the community more engaged in the city's form-based code, which looks more at how a project fits into a neighborhood and does away with strict requirements. It's been used for several large residential development projects, the first a mixed-used building on Spring Street, which was completed in 2019.
But a big goal is to get residents more engaged with form-based code, to look at their neighborhoods, things like porches, trees, streetscapes. "Do you want it to look like this?" he asks. "If you do, that's what formed-based code looks like."
He said, in fact, a goal is to get the community more engaged in general, something that the pandemic has made a little easier, with meetings now being streamed.
There are a lot of priorities, Crowell said. "All of this isn't going to happen tomorrow."
Levesque said the new structure is working well and the focus on development is "you have to live it, eat it breathe it every day."
Developers tell him they feel comfortable in Auburn. "That's the biggest compliment you can get."
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