For the nearly 100 years, the downtown building stood there. It had no on-site parking.

And now that the Heritage Building is gone – destroyed by fire the day after Christmas in 2017 – the parcel that remains appears to be too small to fit in enough parking to serve its redevelopment as something other than what the building was.

In addition, the property line goes all the way to the public plaza on the east, Main Street on the north and the public sidewalk and property to the south, leaving the site a tough cookie to develop.

When potential buyers of the downtown Auburn parcel considered these things, they shook their heads, said no and went away.

So late last year, city officials say, the owner, Melina Lin, decided she herself would “build back what was there before.” She has since hired an architect.

In 2019, the city and Lin are bound to have some lively discussions about exactly what “build back what was there before,” ultimately means. Does it mean the exact same building, or is there flexibility in the design, height, and number of units within the building? Is there flexibility in the uses the city would allow within the building? Is there flexibility in how much commercial square footage the city will require?

Jason Krum, development services manager for the city’s Department of Community Development Department, updated the City Council about these matters Monday in a study session at City Hall.

Here is where matters are today.

Harbro Emergency Services has completed two of three phases of demolition, and while the contractor is fixing a few things it broke in its efforts, Lin has decided to use a different contractor to finish the rest of the demolition.

“(Demolition) continues to be a challenge for city staff,” Community Development Director Jeff Tate wrote in a memo to the council. He said that the Phase 2 demolition permit included a number of conditions that have yet to be completed. For this reason, Tate said, the project and property are still out of compliance with city codes.

The last phase, which Krum said should start as early as next week, calls for the removal of all on-site debris, filling the site so it is at-grade with surrounding properties, hydroseeding or covering it with gravel to stabilize it, illuminating it and fencing it in.

According to Lin, Harbro increased its costs; according to the contractor, Lin provided a narrower scope of service than she insists she drew up for the work she hired it to do.

From a city staff perspective, Tate said, it’s tough to understand the miscommunications between Lin and Harbro, given that the permit the city issued on Aug. 30 contains all of the conditions, which Tate said, means that Lin and Harbro had access to this information from the moment the city issued the permit.

Indeed, Lin and Harbro had it as early May 10 when city staff provided the list of conditions before the application was submitted, Tate said.

Unfortunately, the upshot has been delays in completing the demolition work.

This is why the city’s code enforcement department started assessing financial penalties against Lin on Nov. 17 when it issued a “Notice of Civil Penalty,” Tate said. By Monday, fines had accrued to $6,200.00 and will continue to accrue at a rate of $100 per day until full compliance is achieved. This type of financial penalty is filed as a lien that is recorded against the title of the property.

Tate said Lin informed city staff Oct. 10 that she had hired an architect and was seeking to set up a pre-application meeting. City staff suggested that a better route would be to begin an ongoing dialogue about code requirements. This suggestion was made because City staff were certain that the nature of this site demanded a more creative redevelopment solution, as redevelopment could not occur without a flexible application of the city code.

Tate noted that if Lin elects to reconstruct the Heritage Building as the two-story, 38-apartment structure it was for nearly a century, it would be grandfathered in, and would not have to meet modern codes. But if she adds parking, say at ground level, or increases the number of apartments, she could build up to four stories, but would have to meet those modern codes.