Auburn planning commission forwards Donna Crossing rezoning and narrows PDD uses after strong neighborhood opposition

The Auburn City Planning Commission voted Jan. 14 to recommend rezoning about 13.74 acres at the southeast corner of North Donahue Drive and Farmville Road from rural to Comprehensive Development District, conditioned on approval of a Planned Development District overlay and with limits the commission added to the PDD and conditional-use approvals.

The commission also approved a staff-recommended waiver reducing the required buffer along the eastern property edge adjacent to Woodland Pines Elementary from 15 feet to 5 feet and accepted the developer’s commitment to provide a stronger buffer and a type-3 fence along residential backyards. The PDD and the site’s conditional uses will now go to Auburn City Council for final action; the commission listed several uses it would not permit under the PDD and asked council to consider additional restrictions raised during public comment.

The votes follow more than two hours of public comment from roughly three dozen residents of nearby neighborhoods including Donahue Ridge, Camden Ridge and adjacent subdivisions. Speakers repeatedly raised traffic, noise, light and safety concerns for children at Woodland Pines and for residents whose backyards border the proposed development. “We would note that shortly after the previous opposition, eight ugly billboards were constructed along Donahue, decreasing the beauty of the area and our property values,” resident Nancy Gallagher told commissioners.

Staff and the applicant framed the request as a neighborhood commercial node consistent with the city’s Comprehensive Plan 2030 and future land-use map. City staff said support for rezoning to CDD is conditional on applying the PDD overlay because the PDD would limit many of the by-right uses that otherwise come with CDD. Staff also told the commission the city is funding upgrades to North Donahue — a five-lane cross section with bike lanes, a five-foot sidewalk on one side and a multi-use path on the other — in its capital improvement program over the next five to six years. “North Donahue is proposed to be a five-lane section with bike lanes … so a lot of the stuff that they’re talking about in regards to pedestrian connectivity the city is going to be providing,” a staff member said during the hearing.

The applicant said the PDD is meant to create a controlled set of commercial uses. “There’s nothing in the zoning ordinance that can be more restrictive than a PDD zoning on a piece of property,” the applicant’s representative told the commission, and added that every use in the PDD will be conditional and therefore subject to later public review if the PDD is approved.

Commissioners and staff described the PDD and subsequent conditional-use approvals as a multistep, contract-like process. Under that framework the commission narrowed the developer’s original list of pre‑approved uses. The commission voted to forward the PDD to council while explicitly removing the following uses from the PDD: general merchandise stores, all drive-throughs (including bank and restaurant drive-throughs), veterinary facilities with outdoor kennels, and mobile food-court/food-truck courts. Commissioners also asked city council to consider other uses raised repeatedly in public comment — for example vape/cannabis-related retail and bars/brewpubs — when the PDD and conditional uses reach council.

Public commenters and commissioners pressed the applicant and staff on buffer placement, grading and drainage. Staff noted the site includes about a 30-foot grade change between the proposed development pad and some adjacent yards and that the developer has shown a 30-foot buffer in some locations and agreed to stronger screening near the residential lots. The applicant said state and city stormwater requirements will require detention and water-quality measures before construction can proceed.

The commission’s actions: - Rezoning (RZ 2024-012): motion to recommend rezoning from rural to CDD, conditioned so the rezoning only takes effect if the PDD overlay also receives approval — motion carried. - PDD overlay (RZ 2024-016 / Donna Crossing): recommendation to city council to apply the PDD overlay, with the commission explicitly excluding general merchandise stores, all drive-throughs, veterinary facilities with outdoor pens and mobile food-court courts from the PDD — motion carried. - Waiver (WZ 2024-020): approved staff’s recommendation to reduce the required buffer adjacent to the elementary school from 15 feet to 5 feet, citing existing wooded buffers on the school parcel and the applicant’s commitment to additional screening and a type-3 fence along the residential edge — motion carried. - Conditional uses (CU 2024-040): forwarded to city council for approval with the exclusions listed above and with an instruction that council consider other uses raised during tonight’s public comment — motion carried.

What residents told the commission Residents emphasized three recurring concerns: traffic and safety at the school drop-off and nearby intersections, noise and light from late-night uses and truck traffic, and the long-term aesthetic effect of additional commercial development and billboards on North Donahue. Several speakers urged commissioners to deny rezoning unless the developer commits to greater setbacks, fewer high-intensity uses, and tangible mitigation for drainage and traffic impacts. “We don’t want to become the blight, the north side blight of Auburn,” Nancy Gallagher said.

What comes next The items the commission approved will be considered by Auburn City Council; staff said a council hearing date will be set and shared publicly (staff indicated an anticipated council date in mid‑ to late‑February). If council approves the PDD and conditional uses, future tenant-specific conditional-use applications will return to the planning commission and council for review. Traffic, drainage and final building layouts will be refined through the city’s development-review process before any permits are issued.

Commissioners, applicants and staff all noted the phased nature of the process and encouraged residents to continue following the project as it moves to council and through engineering review. The commission’s votes keep several commercial possibilities off the table for this site but leave open smaller retail and service uses pending council action.