At its most recent meeting, the Auburn City Council approved an amendment to the city's zoning ordinance to create an Interstate Commercial District in an effort to promote and streamline the process for commercial, hospitality and service uses around I-85 interchanges, primarily off of Exit 50.Â
A wide range of retail, commercial and hospitality uses will be permitted by right in the ICD, including hotels, auto dealerships, fast food restaurants and gas stations.Â
According to meeting materials, the ICD was first proposed in 2015 with the adoption of the South College Corridor District, but was put on hold with the intent of bringing it up for consideration at a later date. With the opening of Buc-ee's along Exit 50, the aim of the ICD is, in part, to encourage development of the other three corners at the interchange.
"Obviously, Exit 50 is going to be the first area we take this," said interim Planning Director Kevin Howard. "I think we designed this in such a way that if there is interest in moving it on up to some of the other interchanges, it's certainly set up to possibly do so. We don't have any necessarily immediate plans at this point, but the zone and some of the allowable uses and some of the conditional uses are certainly geared more toward or more appropriate for some of these areas around the exits as opposed to a CDD zoning or something like that."
While the ICD is primarily targeting parcels around Exit 50, it would be a viable zoning option for property owners near other exits whose land isn't currently in city limits. That would be most likely to occur around Exit 51, as many of the parcels off of Exit 57 are already part of planned development districts, noted City Manager Megan McGowen Crouch.Â
"I think they see this as a positive thing when they're looking to develop or sell their property," said Howard of property owners around Exit 50. "They don't necessarily have to go through that conditional-use process if they've already got this set up with some of these uses that are a great fit for that area."
After approving the zoning amendments, the Council approved map amendments that rezoned property along Cox Road from Comprehensive Development District to ICD.Â
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