The Athens City Council will host a public hearing tonight on the master development plan for the Links at Canebrake, a development to be built next to the exclusive Canebrake Club on Lindsay Lane.

The council’s meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. A work session starts at 5.

Councilman Harold Wales, a Canebrake resident, said he plans to vote for the current master plan because it removes all connectivity between the two neighborhoods, which has been a sticking point with Canebrake residents.

Wales said he had met with numerous Canebrake residents who have asked him to only support a plan that leaves the entrance off Lindsay Lane as the only entry point into Canebrake.

“They have bought their homes and moved here for the unique thing Canebrake offers. This is the way residents want to keep it, and I agree with the residents,” Wales said. “To open the streets up would add more traffic and some security problems we don’t have now.”

Wales said he and other residents fear the connectivity between the developments could also affect property values at Canebrake, which features homes ranging from the $200,000s in the front to more than $1 million in the rear of the development.

“These houses that will be built (at Links at Canebrake) are not on the same level as far as square footage and overall price as some of the million-dollar homes built out here,” Wales said.

When asked if he felt his fellow councilmen would vote with him, Wales was confident they would.

“I’ve talked to them one-on-one and shared my feelings,” he said. “I do think they’ll support me on this.”