AUBURN — In late January at a meeting of Mayor Jason Levesque’s action group on agriculture, a fair bit of yelling occurred between a resident and the mayor. At one point, Levesque motioned for staff to get police involved.

The conflict came as members of the public questioned the process that has unfolded to modernize the rules governing the city’s agricultural zone.

On Monday, the City Council will decide whether to forward a draft ordinance to the Planning Board, and to officials at the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, for review.

The new rules could spell big changes for a zone that accounts for about 40 percent of the land in Auburn, and the process is moving ahead despite questions still surrounding it.

The mayor’s action group, which last met Feb. 11, went through the draft ordinance line by line, but never took an official vote on the group’s recommendations during the three-hour meeting. Previously, the group also voted to review an alternative ordinance drafted by former mayoral candidate and attorney Adam Lee, but it was never taken up.

The amended zoning language is intended to loosen the zone’s historically strict rules, making it easier for people to build homes on land they already own while encouraging small agricultural operations.

At a meeting in October, multiple landowners pressed the city to act on the changes. Many said they operate small agricultural operations or farms in Auburn but can’t build a home because they do not meet the income requirements.

However, those opposed to the new ordinance say it will lead to uncontrolled growth and higher property taxes in a zone that’s meant to be protected.

Since the 1960s, zoning laws have stipulated that in order to build a new home in the zone, a property owner must own at least 10 acres and earn 50 percent of household income from agriculture or forestry.

The changes proposed by the action group would lower the standards to allow anyone with at least 3 acres to build a home. However, the lot has to have existed as of Jan. 1, 2018, in order to eliminate large landowners from subdividing.

The rules would also amend the definition of a farmer and dramatically ease the current income standard. Anyone reporting income of at least $1,000 from agriculture per year, or showing an investment in agriculture purposes of $1,000 would meet the criteria.

Levesque has been criticized for establishing the committee after a previous group had worked with an outside consultant to study the zone and came up with recommendations. The city spent $40,000 on the study and received recommendations to establish a permanent agriculture commission in Auburn, which Levesque was accused of ignoring.

Lee’s alternative proposal seeks to keep the ordinance the same, while forming an agriculture commission like what’s proposed in the previous study, where the commission could consider special exceptions in the zone on a case-by-case basis.

“This seems like a snake pit of unintended consequences,” Lee said during the Jan. 22 meeting. “For a year and a half you’ve had a plan that is a more elegant solution that would allow for case-by-case analysis.”

During discussion with members of the action group, Levesque called alternative proposals a last-minute effort to “derail progress.” During the Feb. 11 meeting, when asked by a group member if the alternative plan should also be sent to the Planning Board and state for review, Levesque said, “There’s only one plan. This plan.”

At previous meetings, others also spoke up, including Androscoggin Land Trust Executive Director Shelley Kruszewski, who asked for a “more thorough process.”

Joe Gray, a resident of Sopers Mill Road, on Jan. 22 called the proposed changes “a proposal to build houses in the (agricultural) zone,” and said the process has been marred by misinformation.

“Don’t destroy the (agricultural) zone,” he said. “And do your own research because the people around you are not.”

Kathy Shaw, a member of the action group, said the proposal “essentially creates a new residential zone.”

Action group member Peter Moore, however, said the group was formed to address inconsistencies in the zone that only allow certain people to live on their land.

“There are very few today who are making more than half of their income from farming,” he said, referring to the current ordinance as “a gross injustice that hasn’t promoted agriculture.”

“I hope people know that (building houses) is not the goal of this group,” said Councilor Holly Lasagna, also a member of the action group.

If the council approves the request Monday, the draft ordinance will be reviewed by the Planning Board and then sent back to the action group.

Eric Cousens, director of planning and code enforcement, said Friday that he doesn’t expect a discussion about the details of the proposed changes on Monday. He said the vote “will simply pass the ordinance draft on to the Planning Board and Conservation Commission for their input in drafting the changes.”

He said the ordinance will come back to the council at a later date with feedback from the other boards “for further discussion and to help them make decisions.”

To receive final approval, it will have to go through two readings at the City Council.

arice@sunjournal.com

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