Extreme Makeover: The West Downtown Edition

Posted by – Steve Cohen, Director of Community Development

To be honest, at first glance their request seemed like an impossible task. 

Folks who own property along both sides of Auburn Road, between I-75 and the Clinton River Bridge, told us they wanted to be transformed into a walkable neighborhood that complimented the Downtown.  They felt like an “afterthought” … “in the shadow of the Downtown” … “disconnected.”   A new vision was needed, but how?

How do you fix a neighborhood that has had the wrong zoning for 60+ years?  It turns out the old vision for this land was flawed and out-of-date.  The situation was very unusual.

Their neighborhood was supposed to go away and become an industrial park or a strip mall, but over the years redevelopment bypassed the area and occurred elsewhere.

We found that good quality homes, mostly built between 1930-1945, were located on properties classified as commercial or industrial on the Zoning Map.  Since redevelopment never occurred as planned, property owners were left with non-conforming homes that they could not improve.  Some homes were falling into disrepair.  Why invest in non-conforming property?  You see, the neighborhood was supposed to go away – that was the old plan.

After a year of study, numerous meetings, and a lot of hard work – a new vision has been cast for the neighborhood.   With unanimous support, the City Council recently authorized the Planning Commission to proceed with amending the master plan for the area.

In a nutshell, this new vision has two primary goals:

1. Reclassify most of the parcels with homes on them from non-residential to residential use (shown in yellow below) on the master plan.  This would allow the zoning to be changed making these homes conforming with the Zoning Ordinance and allow property owners to reinvest and/or refinance.
2. Draft a “mixed use, Downtown-style” concept designed to provide a vision and spur redevelopment of the properties located at the east end of the study area near the Clinton River Bridge.  This concept visually shows how the Downtown could expand into the neighborhood, as requested by those who participated in the planning process.  Note:  This type of redevelopment would only occur when the existing property owners are ready to sell their property. 

We anticipate the final public hearing for the master plan amendment will occur sometime in June or July.  Once the amendment is adopted, then changes can proceed to fix the neighborhood’s zoning shortly after.

The City of Auburn Hills appreciates all those who participated in the study.  Congrats to the Planning Commission for a job well done.  This was truly their best work yet.