Auburn council approves Foundry development agreement and PUD with amendments

The Auburn City Council on March 23 approved a suite of actions to advance the Foundry at North College, a large planned unit development that will add commercial space, housing and new road connections on the city’s north side.The package approved includes the development agreement, several rezonings and annexations, and adoption of the Foundry PUD as amended. Council members debated and approved multiple amendments to permitted uses and minimum development standards before moving to final roll-call votes.

City staff told the council the development agreement secures a timeline for a north-side greenway and a critical roadway connection from Donahue to College that will be built in phases. The immediate project component discussed in the meeting was described as roughly an $8 million piece of work on which the developer would contribute about $4 million; a separate bridge approach associated with the high-school connection carries an estimated $6 million–$7 million cost and will require federal permitting.

Council members focused questions on traffic mitigation and multimodal access. Staff said one side of the new internal road will include a multiuse path (wider, permissive for bicycles) and the other side a sidewalk. Roundabouts or signals will be used to distribute traffic; whether a signal is installed will depend on state warranting criteria and Alabama Department of Transportation control of College Street.

Councilmember Beth Witten and others moved and passed amendments to the PUD that (1) add a range of residential product types to Area 2 (including single-family detached, townhomes and cottage houses), (2) revise minimum lot-size and bulk regulations and reduce several minimum unit commitments to provide design flexibility, and (3) adopt governing conditions that include architectural standards, restrictions on short-term rentals in the project, and requirements for private streets and a master landscaping plan. Staff said the amendments were negotiated with the developer and discussed at prior work sessions and planning commission hearings.

All items related to the Foundry — including the development agreement, pre-zone/rezone requests, annexations and the PUD adoption as amended — were adopted during the meeting after the council approved the individual amendments.

What’s next: staff will proceed with permitting and phased design work; the council and staff noted the project will unfold over 15–20 years and that many infrastructure pieces (notably the bridge approach) will require separate permitting and budget planning.