Board: Auburn City Council

Met: Monday night

Building codes

Issue: Most cities use standardized codes to determine building
safety standards. Auburn relies on codes maintained and updated by the
Building Officials and Code Administrators group, while Lewiston uses
International Building Codes and the International Residential Codes.

The scoop: Auburn officials hosted a conference with local
contractors last spring and one complaint officials heard was having
different codes. Now Auburn’s planning and permitting staff are
recommending Auburn adopt the IBC and IRC codes, matching Lewiston. It
will let permitting staff work between the cities.

Councilors discussed the idea at a workshop meeting earlier this month.

Up next: They didn’t have any further questions Monday, and passed the matter on first reading. They’ll vote on it a second time at their next regular meeting.

Ingersoll Trust

Issue: When the city expanded programs at the Ingersoll Arena last year, it also began moving to make the rink self supporting. The arena began charging for some ice programs and taking advertising.

As a result of expanding summer ice programs, the rink has become more popular, and Recreation Department Director Peter Bushway said that many people from the community have stepped forward looking for ways to support the program.

The Scoop: Now the city is looking for formalize that support, setting the City Council as a board of trustees and adopting a set a bylaws. Those bylaws would bind the City Councilors to use money donated to the rink for the rink, according to City Manager Glenn Aho. Councilors would not be able to shift money money donated for the ice arena to pave roads, for example. And Aho said that should spur greater donations and more public involvement at the rink.

Up next: Councilors seemed to like the idea, and are scheduled to vote on it at a meeting later this year.

Road rights

Issue: A number of old roads are still owned by the city, despite not having been paved or maintained for decades.

Councilors were scheduled to review their responsibility for several roads in rural areas of the city, with an eye toward abandoning them. That would absolve the city from having to pave them or plow them in the summer but would keep a public easement and lane of travel there.

The Scoop: Road responsibilities and rights of travel are not simple matters, especially for neighbors. Councilors were scheduled to discuss five roads, and neighbors came forward with different objections for each.

• Neighbors of Browns Crossing Road, which hasn’t been maintained since the 1940s, were worried that other neighbors might try to put up a gate if councilors abandoned their responsibilities. Staff assured neighbors and councilors that a public easement and rights of travel would be maintained, and councilors approved the measure.
• Neighbors of Elmwood Road were worried that other neighbors would take over paving of the road if the city left, turning the dirt road north of the city and off of North River Road into a subdivision. Councilors tabled that matter.
• Neighbors along a portion of Sopers Mill Road near the Durham line were concerned that the city action doesn’t go far enough. They wanted to see a gate put up, and urged the city to abandon the easement completely.
• City Manager Glenn Aho said there was some doubt that the city actually has any involvement along Range Road off Foster Road, near the Poland line, and he urged councilors to vote it down. They did.
• Neighbors of Ryans Way, near Lake Auburn, were concerned that abandoning the road there would keep them from using a recreation path. But Mayor John Jenkins, who lives on Ryans Way and excused himself from his seat during the discussion, told councilors there was no road there. Councilors tabled the matter.

Great Falls subdivision

Issue: Developers usually have two years to begin work on a construction project, once councilors or city planners have approved it. That clock could keep ticking even if a project is challenged in the courts.

The Scoop: That’s the situation developer Tom Platz and his partners, Mullaney Hospitality Group, were in. Work on their proposed Great Falls Plaza hotel was being challenged in court by Hilton Garden Inn owners, Riverwatch LLC.

Councilors voted on first reading earlier this month to start the development clock ticking on projects once all legal challenges have been settled. That would allow Platz’ proposed hotel development to continue, if courts settle the matter.

Up next: Councilors reaffirmed their decision, passing the measure on second and final reading Monday.

Contact government reporter Scott Taylor via phone at 689-2846 or via e-mail at [email protected]