Something seemed unseemly at the Aug. 1 Auburn City Council meeting about development zone issues.

I mean one veteran council member said, “I’m ashamed of some of the tactics we try to do.” I wonder what she meant.

Could it have anything to do with efforts spearheaded by the mayor to get the housing results he wants one way or another?

Somebody said the planning code originally approved by the council could not go forward due to the fact that 2,400 signatures had been collected in opposition. Now it seems there’s a second zoning plan the mayor and some councilors want to push through. But at the meeting a gentleman said the section of the city charter dealing with citizens’ petitions,  which he helped to craft, was not meant to allow a repeal and replace move. It was added as a means for citizen voices to be heard.

I kind of wondered if that’s what that veteran councilor was referring to about being ashamed.

Seems a lot of folks who spoke up at the meeting would like to see this simmering situation  settled by a November referendum vote.

Another council member said, while he favored both zoning  types, he felt he should listen to the 2,400 people who signed the petition. And still another councilor said  he’s been living in Auburn since 1954 and had never seen a petition with 2,400 signatures, indicating the strong public support to protect Lake Auburn, among other areas.

That would seem to be accurate judging from the  large number of “Protect Lake Auburn Signs” spread all over the city.

Bob Gardner, Auburn

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