The much-anticipated vote on a request to rezone 24 acres of Athens land to accommodate a three-story luxury apartment development won’t be happening today.

The city of Athens released a statement Friday saying the property’s owners had withdrawn their rezoning application and proposed master development plan.

Athens City Council members were poised to vote on the rezoning request during their regular meeting today. That meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at Athens City Hall.

“Athens Land Company says that it plans to address various information that it heard at the recent public hearing, make substantial modifications to its proposal, and then re-submit at a later time,” the statement said. “In light of that, the proposal has been withdrawn prior to the initiation of any action on it by the City Council. It has been pulled from Monday night’s agenda, and there will be no action on it at that meeting.”

Prior to the city’s announcement, council members told The News Courier there were still unanswered questions about the development, which would have been south of U.S. 72, west of Lindsay Lane and north of Whitfield Drive. Most of those concerns included increased traffic on Lindsay Lane and if the 480 proposed apartments would have lived up to the developer’s promise of being “luxury” apartments.

At the last council meeting on Aug. 27, the council faced a crowd of more than 120 concerned citizens from the nearby Canebrake, Indian Trace and Diamond Point neighborhoods. They cited increased traffic, fear of decreased property values and lack of privacy as reasons for their concern.

Whitfield Colony residents, whose back yards would abut the development, were worried that third-floor apartment dwellers could see into their swimming pools and homes. At least one resident asked why Texas-based developer J&J Development couldn’t build two-story buildings instead.

Councilman Joseph Cannon said he was uncomfortable with several aspects of the project and likely wouldn’t have voted to rezone the property had it remained on the agenda. He explained some concerns voiced by Athens residents shouldn’t prevent the council from giving consideration to development projects.

“If the only issues were about concerns of privacy and what’s in a back yard, those are things we have to get over,” he said.

Both councilmen Wayne Harper and Frank Travis said they had learned more about the proposed development in the days since the last meeting, but both men were still leaning toward not approving it.

“Even if the vote is not in favor of the developer, we want to be amenable and come up with another alternative,” Travis said. “We don’t want to discourage development.”

Councilman Harold Wales, who lives in Canebrake and represents the district, was prepared to vote “no” at the Aug. 27 meeting, and would have done so again today. He was pleased to learn the property owners decided to withdraw their rezoning request.

“It was causing so much confusion on one side of our city,” he said.“Athens Land Company says that it plans to address various information that it heard at the recent public hearing, make substantial modifications to its proposal, and then re-submit at a later time,” the statement said. “In light of that, the proposal has been withdrawn prior to the initiation of any action on it by the City Council. It has been pulled from Monday night’s agenda, and there will be no action on it at that meeting.”

Prior to the city’s announcement, council members told The News Courier there were still unanswered questions about the development, which would have been south of U.S. 72, west of Lindsay Lane and north of Whitfield Drive. Most of those concerns included increased traffic on Lindsay Lane and if the 480 proposed apartments would have lived up to the developer’s promise of being “luxury” apartments.

At the last council meeting on Aug. 27, the council faced a crowd of more than 120 concerned citizens from the nearby Canebrake, Indian Trace, Diamond Point neighborhoods. They cited increased traffic, a fear of decreased property values and lack of privacy as reasons.

Whitfield Colony residents whose back yards abutted the development expressed concerns that third-floor apartment dwellers could see into their swimming pools and homes. At least one resident asked why Texas-based developer J&J Development couldn’t build two-story buildings instead.

Councilman Joseph Cannon said he was uncomfortable with several aspects of the project and likely wouldn’t have voted to rezone the property had it remained on the agenda. He had concerns about the prospect of increased traffic and how luxurious the “luxury” apartments would truly be.

He explained some concerns voiced by Athens residents shouldn’t prevent the council from giving consideration to development projects.

“If the only issues were about concerns of privacy and what’s in a back yard, those are things we have to get over,” he said.

Both councilmen Wayne Harper and Frank Travis said they had learned more about the proposed development in the days since the last meeting, but both men were still leaning toward not approving it.

“Even if the vote is not in favor of the developer, we want to be amenable and come up with another alternative,” Travis said. “We don’t want to discourage development.”

Councilman Harold Wales, who lives in Canebrake and represents the district, said he was prepared to vote “no” at the Aug. 27 meeting and would have done so again today. He was pleased to learn the property owners decided to withdraw their rezoning request.

“It was causing so much confusion on one side of our city,” he said.