Auburn Planning Board Conditionally Approves Arbor Recycling Warehouse on Rockland Road

AUBURN — October 14, 2025 — Auburn Planning Board votes to reject Whitman Bailey Drive public-way petition and conditionally approve Arbor Recycling site plan. The board voted unanimously Tuesday night to recommend that Town Meeting disapprove a citizens petition to accept Whitman Bailey Drive, a roughly 960-foot private road in the Windmill Estates development, as a public way, citing pavement built under a waiver to thinner-than-standard specs and no subsequent improvements by the homeowners association. Vice Chair Glenn Feldman framed the request as a straight liability transfer: "What you're doing is you're transferring liability from yourselves to the town." In a separate action, the board granted conditional site plan approval to Arbor Recycling for a proposed warehouse at 47 Rockland Road — a project under review since February — conditioned on Conservation Commission approval and submission of a conforming as-built plan; abutters raised unresolved concerns about operating-hours violations, a novel catch-basin oil-water separator design, and the safety of the site's single-lane access driveway, which the board said are enforcement matters for the Zoning Board of Appeals and code enforcement, not the Planning Board. The board also voted to recommend approval of a new traffic study bylaw, submitted as a citizens petition, for consideration at Town Meeting in approximately two weeks.