By Katie Stallcup

Published: May 8, 2008

Waffle House wants to build a restaurant on West Glenn Avenue at North College Street, and at Thursday’s meeting, the Auburn Planning Commission reluctantly approved one of the first steps toward that goal.

The commission granted a conditional use approval for the restaurant, allowing a restaurant to locate there if it met zoning requirements.

At the meeting, Chris Kearns, owner of nearby Royal Apartments, said he thought the design conflicted with the regulations for downtown buildings. He, too, would have to comply with the downtown “urban core” regulations, he said.

“It doesn’t always seem like it’s what you’d like until it holds somebody else to a higher standard, also,” Kearns said.

The single-use building set back from the road with a parking lot in front of it didn’t match the guidelines, he said.

“In general, this is the first new building construction in the urban core district since the guidelines were passed, and I don’t know if this sets a really good precedent,” Kearns said.

Several commission members, too, expressed concerns about the restaurant’s initial design.

“It’s the first thing under the new urban zoning that we’re fixing to completely wipe out a whole section of the urban core … if we approve it,” Commission member Mark Yohn said. “And it’s not under our purview, as they say, to look at site plans and all that, but I feel like in this instance, if we don’t, it’s done, and then we’re going to have … someone coming in and doing the same thing.”

Planning Director Forrest Cotten agreed that at this point, the commission could only address whether or not the purpose was appropriate, not how the building was situated. That would be up to the board of zoning and adjustments, he said.

“They currently have two variances pending in front of the board but to actually develop what they’d like to develop, they’re going to need more variances than that,” Cotten said. “So chances are, they’re going to have to make some modifications to the plan.”

For drawings, visit the city’s Web site at http://www.auburnalabama.org and click on the “meetings” link.