The Androscoggin Sheriff’s Office moving to the Evergreen Subaru property on Center Street is a horrible idea. I hope the city of Auburn will refuse to permit it.
The traffic is horrible through there; adding emergency vehicles will create chaos in an already accident-prone area. Taking prime commercial real estate from an already-crowded commercial front in an infrastructure that was built incorrectly isn’t going to help the citizenry. Taking a multiple-million-dollar property off the tax rolls and making it nonprofit makes Auburn taxpayers responsible for the loss.
With the uptick in commercial properties coming to the area and their desire to be in proximity of another, i.e. Olive Garden and Target, you limit the ability of growth. Unless Androscoggin County is going to require the other municipalities involved to foot the lost taxes, pay for the mitigation of traffic and provide a general benefit to the citizens of Auburn, the project should be stopped.
The city of Lewiston is engaging in building a new police station. Could Androscoggin County pursue a joint venture to save taxpayers money in the form of a campus system? At the very least, put it to a vote?
Again, this is valuable commercial real estate that we cannot get back. It is not the best use to help fund our municipal budget.
This to me also flies in the face of numerous studies and recommendations to consolidate and share county services like 911, by making Auburn hold the bill.
Mike Farrell, Auburn
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