AUBURN — City staff will host a public meeting this week on proposed updates to Lake Auburn watershed rules, including updated septic design standards.

The meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Auburn Senior Community Center will be the second hosted by city staff to explain the proposals, which are based on recommendations made in a recent study of the lake.

But the updates have also become wrapped up in a larger citywide conversation on housing growth, with several major zoning changes in residential areas also in the pipeline. There may also be upcoming discussions on Auburn’s income requirement for building in the agricultural zone.

In the watershed, the proposed updates center on what the lake study refers to as low impact development standards, which would include new septic system design standards and phosphorus control measures. City staff has said updated standards would make it easier for new systems to be installed and new homes to be built, but have argued the combined changes will make the lake healthier in the long term.

The study, which was given to officials late last year, said the septic standard used in the Lake Auburn Watershed Overlay District limits development on a significant part of the watershed by “effectively prohibiting the use of innovative and alternative septic system and leach field designs.”

According to information that will be presented during the meeting, 275 of the 321 septic systems used in the watershed were built under the older standards.

Mayor Jason Levesque has argued that the current standards are not designed to protect the lake, but rather to stop growth. But he also said last week that the updated standards, if approved, will not result “in a land rush” to build new homes. He estimated it could result in two dozen, but he also said he may propose an impact fee for any new homes built in the area.

He said the fee, which would be in addition to a more expensive septic system required on a new home, would go to a fund to help offset the cost of replacing older septic systems in the watershed.

The City Council is expected to take up the phosphorus control measures in March, with the septic design standards slated for sometime in April.

ZONING UPDATES

Meanwhile, the Planning Board has also been busy fielding proposed zoning amendments tied to Auburn’s recent Comprehensive Plan. Most of the updates call for allowing increased density and a larger variety of housing types in residential zones, which officials say mirrors statewide recommendations to address the housing shortage.

However, the Planning Board witnessed a large turnout recently for a hearing on four such zoning updates, including one for the city’s “core urban residential area” stemming from Court Street that would impact some 1,600 acres.

The proposed change to the Court Street district would essentially rename the urban residential zone to traditional neighborhood development district, which according to a memo, would “allow for the development of a wide range of residential and community uses at a density of up to 16 units per acre in areas that are served” by public utilities.

The Planning Board delayed a recommendation on the change after residents requested maps with more clarifying information. One resident said the map was “unreadable” and didn’t convey the magnitude of the change.

The city is sending out new maps further explaining the change to hundreds of residents.

The citywide conversation on zoning updates and housing growth has also exposed perennial debates over new housing in Auburn’s watershed areas and agricultural zone. Because much of the watershed is zoned agricultural, Lewiston officials have waded into a debate over proposed legislation that would eliminate an income-based building restriction there.

Lewiston officials have said they are concerned with LD 1884, and its potential to impact Lake Auburn, the public water supply for both cities.

At the recent Planning Board hearing, a board member made a motion to initiate a conversation and review of the income standard.

Levesque, who has advocated for the legislation, said he found it “ironic” that some public comments during the recent Planning Board hearing questioned why new housing growth was concentrating on downtown Auburn, and not the outskirts.

“This is the tale of two Auburn’s unfolding before us,” he said.

The City Council is slated to take up three zoning updates, including the watershed phosphorus controls, on March 7, and the following night the Planning Board will take up the Court Street update.

Asked why LD 1884 and the recent state recommendations on increasing housing were included in the watershed presentation, Levesque said staff wanted to “convey some urgency.”

He said the state housing crisis is giving the discussions more weight than the “bickering” of the past.

“Now everybody sees we have to start looking at this in good faith,” he said.

To view the meeting presentation, or find the livestream link, go to auburnmaine.gov or click here.

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