A controversial topic from last month’s Athens Planning Commission meeting was parsed out again Tuesday as the group again discussed a proposed development to be built next to the exclusive Canebrake Club.

The issue Tuesday wasn’t the development itself but instead what action the commission ultimately took at the Jan. 23 meeting and how it was reflected in the minutes from that meeting.

At the previous meeting, the commission voted to recommend the master plan be approved at a later date by the Athens City Council, but with amendments that addressed connectivity. Residents of Canebrake Club, which also includes Harold Wales, an Athens councilman and planning commission member, did not want any connectivity between their neighborhood and the proposed Links of Canebrake.

The original master plan for the Links of Canebrake included four connectivity points between the neighborhoods. There was concern at Tuesday’s meeting that omissions and amendments suggested at the last meeting may have instead restored the four access points between the neighborhoods, which was not Wales’ intent.

Commission member Rod Huffman suggested amending the minutes to reflect Wales’ desire that the issue go before the council without any recommendations regarding connectivity between the two developments. The commission then approved the minutes from the January meeting with Huffman’s suggested amendments. Commission member Jerold Blaxton abstained.

“It clears up (Wales’) intent in that he’s in favor of no connectivity between the Links of Canebrake and Canebrake,” said Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks, a member of the commission who chaired Tuesday’s meeting. “This is an unusual situation. I’ve been here since the 1980s and I’ve never seen anything this emotional.”

The Athens City Council will hold a public hearing on the master development plan for the Links of Canebrake at its March 12 meeting.

Other business

In other business, the commission:

• Held a public hearing and then approved a resolution in favor of a four-lot minor subdivision at 22777 Compton Road in an Estate District at the request of Paul and Tamara Fontanez;

• Held a public hearing and then approved a resolution in favor of a replat of Phase 3 of the Meres Subdivision, a conventional planned-unit development district on the east side of Linton Road between Alabama 251 and Forrest Street. The request was made by Nick Hamlin and Sam Gates;

• Held a public hearing on a request by Loretta Sanderfer to rezone 1 acre at 700 Caldwell Lane from Estate Residential and Agricultural District to an R-1-1 (low-density single-family residential district). The board approved a resolution for the City Council to approve the rezoning request, contingent on the fact the property is contiguous with an R-1-1 zone and if the action is supported by the city’s zoning board of adjustments.