A proposed ordinance involving construction on Indian Trace Road died before the Athens City Council at its meeting Monday.

The council held six public hearings during the meeting, but it was the final one of the set that had more than 20 people in the audience out of concern.

The hearing was related to a proposed construction project that would have seen two-, three- and four-unit townhomes built in the area of Indian Trace Road just northwest of Canebrake Club.

A proposed ordinance would have rezoned the area from a R-1-1 Single Family Residential District to a C-PUD, or Conventional Planned Unit Development District. The ordinance would be required before construction of the townhomes could begin.

Multiple people spoke in favor of and against the proposed rezoning. Several members of the audience were residents who live on or near Indian Trace Road and were not in favor of the project.

Resident Jim Thompson said the project would only benefit a few people at the expense of the other members of the neighborhood, specifically in what he felt would be lowered property values for those in the area living in single-family homes.

He and other speakers were concerned that the project would bring “low-income apartments” to the area.

“There are many places not near single-family housing in Athens for projects like this,” he said.

Thompson and others were also concerned that rezoning the area could pave the way for other types of businesses to be built in the neighborhood. Rod Huffman, a former chairman of the Athens Planning Commission, was also in the audience to speak against the project.

Huffman said the proposed apartment project was being treated like an “add-on subdivision” and questioned why such a project was not accounted for in the area’s original master plan if the developers had something like it in mind.

Another common concern among residents was the fear that the added apartments would increase traffic in the area.

Matthew Parsons said it was unsafe for children to play in front of homes along Indian Trace Road because of the amount of traffic, and Wesley Brown said the projected traffic counts he had seen for the area, if the ordinance were to pass, “don’t deal with reality.”

Taz Morell of Morell Engineering spoke in favor of the project, saying a new access road would be built connecting to Lindsay Lane so that no added traffic would be seen on Indian Trace Road.

Morell said the project was not necessarily for low-income housing. He said that such projects building more rental property are necessary if the City of Athens wants to continue to grow and bring in jobs.

The proposed project’s developer was also on hand to speak in favor of the construction. He said the townhomes would be “by no means” low-income housing. He said that around 75% of the projected tenants for the housing would be senior citizens.

Morell and the developer reminded everyone present that any changes or future proposed building in the area, if it were to be rezoned, would still have to come before the council.

When it came time to vote on the proposed ordinance after the conclusion of the public hearing, no member of the council would carry it. Therefore, the ordinance died due to no action being taken, so no vote was necessary.

Council chairman Frank Travis and Mayor Ronnie Marks said the proposed rezoning could come back before the council after a period of one year, if it remained unaltered. If the proposal were to be changed in some way, such as requiring a different type of rezoning, it could be immediately resubmitted.