Some recent letters have complained about changing zoning on Foster Road in Auburn to industrial.

The Auburn Comprehensive Plan Update Committee spent the last two years studying and making recommendations on future zoning throughout the city. Foster Road does have a number of residences, but the residential use is on a relatively small strip along the road, and is surrounded by large tracts of land more suitable for industrial development due to proximity to transportation infrastructure and the airport.

Generally, it is more desirable to have industrial development near airports than residential uses due to compatibility issues. Equally important, our property tax base is best served by making land that is suitable for industrial use zoned that way. There is tremendous pressure on Auburn, like other municipalities, to maintain services and keep taxes as reasonable as possible. Having land available for industrial development also helps provide good-paying jobs, which are desperately needed.

So, primarily for these reasons, citizen volunteer members of the CPUC concluded that some additional industrial zoning in the Foster Road area would be advisable for future land use. Auburn’s zoning requirements strictly regulate how industrial development occurs, particularly when adjacent to residential areas, so residents can be assured that their residential uses will be protected through setbacks, natural buffers, fencing and other such measures.

No actions to change zoning can occur without public hearings, so residents need not worry that changes could be made without the opportunity for public input. They can’t.

Rick Whiting, chairman

Auburn Comprehensive Plan Update Committee

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