AUBURN — Two years after Mayor Jason Levesque set a goal of creating 2,000 new housing units by reimagining zoning policies, the city is about halfway there.
Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque delivers his prerecorded State of the City address Monday in the Council Chamber. Screenshot from video
Auburn has also appeared in some national news coverage and on real estate websites as one of the “hottest” markets, and new development value has been “record-setting.”
In his biennial State of the City address Monday, Levesque said city leaders plan to continue on the same path, but must be “resolute” as they head into what they expect to be a difficult budget season.
He also defended the city’s recent actions related to the Lake Auburn watershed and plans to remove a long-held barrier to development in the city’s large agricultural zone.
Levesque said the city has “passed some of the nation’s most meaningful zoning reform packages, designed to empower the individual, right generational wrongs and foster an environment of success,” and is now seen as “an example of how to reinvigorate a stagnant community.”
But, he said, city leaders expect to face one of the most challenging budget years in recent memory.
“Inflation is impacting the cost of government, just like it’s taking a toll on you and your family,” he said. “The massive desire for so many people to live in Auburn is, on one hand, exciting. On the other hand, it is causing steep increases in home values and property taxes and a shortage of housing of all kinds.”
He said instead of shrinking important city services, the council is looking to increase Auburn’s tax base through new market-rate housing, commercial and retail enterprises and “investment into innovative policies that will decrease the cost of existing housing, while allowing more attainable housing to be built, especially for young families and seniors.”
Levesque, echoing his long-held beliefs about Auburn’s zoning polices, said the “regressive” zoning policies have stifled home construction and forced growing families to other towns.
To respond to some of the forecast budget issues, Levesque said he is proposing several investments intended to increase the amount of affordable child care openings within the city, as well as new ways to respond to the housing crisis.
He said he would like staff members to come up with a plan to acquire “corporate-owned, derelict and undeveloped land and properties” through eminent domain by May 1.
“We can no longer sit by while corporations practice speculative land monopolies and refuse to address crumbling buildings,” Levesque said. “We must face this head on and act in the public interest.”
Asked for an example late Monday, Levesque pointed to The Barn at 67 Minot Ave., the former shoe factory that was once envisioned for a medical tourism redevelopment.
Levesque said he will also ask the council to encourage the Auburn Housing Authority board of directors “to fulfill their mission statement and take immediate action towards the creation of additional owner-occupied family housing within Auburn.”
“Creating this option will allow people to become home owners, build vibrant neighborhoods of hardworking people and help us eliminate generational poverty within our city,” he said.
Levesque told residents that the city’s recent actions on Lake Auburn watershed rules are “sound and, frankly, decades past due.” The city has been embroiled in a lawsuit between the Auburn Water District and city of Lewiston regarding how the rules might impact water quality and the costs to ratepayers.
“Study after study and expert after expert have validated our policy initiatives and agree that there is no room for politics when it comes to protecting our drinking water,” he said. “There is either right or wrong, and I am grateful to be on the side of right.”
Levesque said as the city looks to move 4,400 acres in the watershed into conservation, it will also be continuing its look at the long-held income standard in the city’s agricultural zone, which has for years limited development there.
He argued that “by removing an archaic and discriminatory income standard and replacing it with ordinances specifically designed to limit mass development, and identify and protect natural resources, we can achieve what so many communities have failed to do. A true balance between humans and the natural world.”
Levesque also used the address to respond to criticism he and the council have received in response to its aggressive pursuit of zoning changes and development. The council has often been accused of ignoring citizen concerns, or conducting only the bare minimum public process.
On Monday, several residents spoke against a zone change that could pave the way for development off Andrew Drive in East Auburn. The council approved the change.
“Everyone wants progress, but very few actually want change,” Levesque said. “There will continue to be letters to the editor, ill-informed attacks on social media, and lies and rumors spread at the grocery store. These are all designed to divide, inflame tensions, and keep the status quo. Or worse yet, take us backward to a time not that far in the past when, power and wealth were concentrated with the few to the detriment of the many.”
Levesque in his State of the City address never mentioned homelessness, an issue that has been discussed by officials since the start of the winter, but with no policy changes or new initiatives taking place.
Last week, the city failed in an effort to seek state funding for a temporary shelter after it could not identify a location to host it.
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