AUBURN – Plans to build a $12 million downtown hotel cleared the Planning Board Tuesday.

The fate of the project remains uncertain, though.

Auburn developer Tom Platz said his partner on the project, Mullaney Hospitality, has pulled out, citing ongoing legal delays.

“We may do it ourselves,” Platz said Tuesday. There may be a partner. Or the project may die.

The hotel was originally scheduled to be under construction last summer on Platz’s Great Falls Plaza property, sandwiched between the Auburn Esplanade and Turner Street. In conjunction with the hotel, the city planned to build a $5 million parking garage.

However, Lee Griswold and Riverwatch LLC, which opened the nearby Hilton Garden Inn in 2003, have been fighting Platz’s plan.

Griswold and Riverwatch filed suit in Androscoggin County Superior Court saying Platz failed to follow the city’s ordinances. “It’s like baking a cake,” said Riverwatch attorney Elliot Epstein. “You need to follow the recipe.”

The Planning Board already passed Platz’s plan once.

The court sent it back to the board for findings on three matters: requirements governing loading zones, setbacks from roads and the developer’s proof of financial capability.

In Tuesday’s nearly two-hour meeting, board members passed each one again. In each case, language was added to the board’s passage aimed at making each acceptance more explicit.

When they were done, Platz was pleased with the board but frustrated with the delays.

“It’s unfortunate for the city of Auburn,” he said. “This project could have meant many jobs in this difficult economy.”

Epstein contended that the city was too eager to get the long-delayed project under way and cut corners. “It’s a big project,” Epstein told the Planning Board. “You need to be careful with this sort of thing. I don’t think it passes muster.”