Approval of a slight garbage hauling rate hike, a go-ahead for an Elks Lodge frontage improvement project, and a disagreement with the County of Placer over a North Auburn airport-school matter were the highlights of this week’s breezy meeting of the Auburn City Council.
The council voted unanimously to raise the solid waste collection rates for residential and commercial customers.
For 2007-08, the residential rate increases will be raised by 1.7
percent for a toter container, 2.31 percent for a curbside can and 2.41
percent for a backyard can. The commercial rate hikes will range from
1.37 percent to 2.35 percent.
The council also approved a “not to exceed” four percent cost of living
increase for the services starting July 1, 2008. There was no
opposition to the increases.
There had been much ado about the Elks Lodge situation after a headline
in another local publication hinted the club might pull out of Auburn
if it didn’t get its way with the city over the frontage project.
The council put that far-fetched idea to rest after (1) hearing from
lodge members that there was never any intention to leave the city, and
(2) realizing that some of the planning commission conditions imposed
on the project were unnecessary.
“I don’t see how requiring a non-profit organization to put in a
sidewalk that won’t be used makes any sense,” opined Councilman Mike
Holmes.
peakers in support of the lodge’s appeal of the conditions included
Ralph Roper, a 50-year lodge member; Bill Grant, a lodge member, civil
engineer and the retired general manager of the Placer County Water
Agency; and Bill Schumacher, a lodge member and an attorney who
actually filed the appeal on behalf of the lodge.
The vote on Councilman Kevin Hanley’s motion to grant the appeal was unanimous.
The council also voted unanimously to rebut the county board of
supervisors’ recent approval of a use permit allowing the Parkside
Church of the Nazarene to operate a junior high school on its premises.
The city opposes the school because of its proximity to the Auburn
Airport — it’s in a zone in which the Placer County Airport Land Use
Commission prohibits schools.
Mayor Bob Snyder blamed District 3 Supervisor Jim Holmes for being the
“cheerleader” for the school, at one point saying that Holmes is “a
member” of the Parkside Church of the Nazarene.
Jim Holmes said after the meeting that he attends the church but is not on its books as an official “member.”
The council’s official rebuttal was in the form of a resolution that
was moved by Councilman Mike Holmes, the supervisor’s brother. Copies
of the resolution were dispatched to the board of supervisors, the
Airport Land Use Commission (which actually is the Placer County
Transportation Planning Agency) and state aeronautics officials within
Caltrans.
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