AUBURN — Councilors on Monday heard complaints from residents of the city’s agriculture and resource protection zone who want fewer land-use restrictions and more services.

One of the biggest issues is that landowners in the district are required to earn more than 50 percent of their collective income from their land in order to build a home, or even a shed, on their property.

The “ag zone” consists of 20,000 acres, 40 percent of the land in Auburn. Only about 5,000 of those acres are currently used for agriculture. 

The City of Auburn staff and council understand that the residents want a change, so City Planner Doug Greene put together an outline of a plan. Part of that plan is to pay a consultant $40,000 to conduct a study. 

The study is aimed at fully understanding the current economic and physical condition of the district and what changes would be best for the land and the residents. 

Harry Ricker of Wallingford’s Fruit House and Ricker Hill Orchards, was in attendance as a resident of the district. “I’m an apple farmer, a cranberry farmer. We grow apples in eight towns in Maine, and Auburn is one of them. We have an ag zone in Turner, where I live, and I invite you to study them.”

He said the services in Auburn are the worst of all the towns in which he owns land. “They don’t collect our garbage because we’re a farm,” he said. “A plow comes through, after they’ve been through the village at least three times.”

Ricker added, “I’ve heard people say the ag zone is good because it limits resource costs. I think it does, because they don’t plow our snow very much, they don’t take our garbage.”

Ricker also said his taxes in Auburn are the highest of the eight towns in which he owns property. 

He thinks a study would be good, but not for that amount of money. 

Karen Bolduc owns 10 acres in the ag zone. “I’m here tonight as a landowner and as a farmer,” she said. “I’m here in support of doing the study. I also want to remind folks to think of the bigger picture. The plan is a tool we can use to promote those bigger picture goals; to frame those goals.” 

Joe Gray had concerns about overgrowing housing in the zone. “I’ve got pigs. I don’t want any houses near me. If I have neighbors, I’m still gonna have pigs. It’s a big concern of mine,” he said. “I don’t want unlimited growth. It’s a complex problem.”

He and several others also raised concerns about hiring an outside consultant to conduct the study, saying that the city shouldn’t have to hire someone with the staff in place. And if they do, not for $40,000.

Kathy Schella loves her land in Auburn. “I found this very amazing spot with some very amazing restrictions. I thought: ‘How do we make this work?’ And we did. It wasn’t easy, but we made our farm work. We bought land with a house already on it, so I didn’t have to deal with the housing situation.” 

She added, “I don’t know where we should go from here, but I don’t want to see the city of Auburn change from being pretty and quiet. You can’t go back. Once you start putting houses in and paving roads, its gone. Think carefully.”

City councilors and Greene will review the input from Monday’s meeting and plan to have another public meeting in the near future.