AUBURN — A committee will be tasked with setting criteria that will be used to determine whether someone can build a home in the Agriculture and Natural Resource Protection zone.

The City Council last week approved the formation of the ad hoc committee after city staff said the current ordinance language used to review potential projects in the zone is too vague.

The decision comes after the city removed a long-held and controversial income standard for the 20,000-acre zone last year, replacing it with language that ties residential construction to a connection with the land. In order to build a new home, a property owner must show they are engaged in a “bona fide farming, agricultural, recreational or natural resource use.”

When it was approved last year, the change was praised as a welcome compromise following years of debate over an income standard that many argued was unfair, while still tying development to agriculture or recreation.

However, according to Mayor Jeff Harmon, the process for reviewing applications based on the new rules has been challenging for city staff and the Natural Products and Agriculture working group, which has been making the determinations.

While the council ultimately voted 4-2 to approve the new committee, some said they’re concerned the new criteria will put more restrictions and roadblocks in front of property owners to discourage residential construction.

Councilor Steve Milks, who was on the previous council that approved the ordinance change, said he believes the process will result in “keeping the (agricultural) zone so no one can build a house on it.” Milks compared the process to one that played out with John Gendron’s proposed development off Gracelawn Road, where a working gravel pit has been located in the agricultural zone.

“You can do a lot of things in the (agricultural) zone, including a gravel pit near the lake, but you can’t build a house, and it’s wrong,” he said.

Councilor Leroy Walker, who also voted against the committee, said the proposed makeup of the committee will feature people who have been aligned with Mayor Harmon on issues surrounding development.

“If they have their way, it’ll be back to the old way again that you can’t build your own home on your own land,” he said. “That’s what they want to do.”

Walker also questioned how many proposals staff has had to review since the rules were changed. City staff said Wednesday that they are still pulling that information together and hope to have it next week.

Harmon defended the process, saying staff and the working group have found it difficult to conduct reviews “with no defined criteria,” which makes it difficult to have consistency in reviewing applications.

He said the proposed committee would simply develop criteria to potentially be placed in the ordinance language, and that the council will have the final say in approving any language.

“Nothing in this committee will relitigate the discussion that changed the (agriculture) ordinance to what it is today,” he said. “If members of the council are not satisfied with the way the current (agriculture) ordinance is written, they can come forward with changes.”

“Staff feels like they’re between a rock and a hard place, between two polarized groups,” Councilor Rick Whiting said. “This is an opportunity to make a difficult decision more easily made by city staff.”

Councilor Adam Platz said vague ordinance language leaves the city “susceptible to lawsuits, arguments, and debates.”

“It seems like our responsibility to fix them, it doesn’t mean we have to restrict things. If we don’t like them, we can vote it down,” he said.

Milks said for those concerned that the agricultural zone would become home to unchecked development, the ordinance language approved last year stipulated that even if new construction was approved, property owners must maintain a majority of their land as undeveloped open space.

According to a council memo, the committee would be made up of the chairperson of the Sustainability and Natural Resources Board or the chairperson’s designee; up to two representatives of the Natural Products and Agriculture working group; a representative of the conservation working group; a representative of the Community Forestry working group; a representative of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board; a member of the Planning Board; and representatives of the Planning, Permitting, and Code Enforcement department.

Prior to the vote, Councilor Ben Weisner made a motion to also add two members of the public to the committee makeup, which was approved.