Auburn City Council Workshop and regular meeting

May 16, 2016 

Auburn Hall

Form-Based Codes

What happened: Councilors approved new Form Based Codes on second  reading Monday. The new codes focus on how buildings and public spaces look and how they are used rather than what businesses they contain. Ideally, they will help shape the future of the downtown areas and invite in boutique-level investment.

What it means: It could help make the downtown and New Auburn areas more pedestrian friendly and walkable.

What’s Next: The codes will be used for upcoming downtown development projects. 

Cell sites

What happened: City councilors approved a plan to let Verizon put a micro-cell antenna on a city pole at the Auburndale Shopping Center, 650 Center St. The antenna is designed to provide service to Verizon customers, taking them off the larger cellular antenna poles. Verizon will pay the city $200 per month to use the pole.

What it means: Some small antennas may mean big services boosts for Verizon wireless customers in Auburn.

What’s Next: Expect to see more small cell antennas going up if the Center Street service is a  success. 

Happy Birthday, Lucia

What happened: 

Mayor Jonathan LaBonte set aside part of Monday’s busy council meeting to wish a happy 100th birthday to a resident Lucia Cowles.

What it means: Cowles attended Monday’s meeting along with friends from her senior citizens’ group. She was born May 22, 1916, in Lewiston and has lived in Auburn since 1941.

[email protected]