CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WINA) – People were packed tight inside City Hall for Tuesday’s public hearing on the Charlottesville’s draft zoning ordinance, with 103 people stepping up to the microphone before all was said and done.

People who had hoped for a vote, however, were disappointed.

“There is a nicety of state law that requires that we either vote to pass the thing tonight, or fail it tonight, or that we affirmatively move to continue it to another date,” said Mayor Lloyd Snook after council voted unanimously to continue its consideration. “So, we are affirmatively moving to continue it to … December 13th.”

Many spoke against the plan, including Belmont resident James Kelley, who said the city is ill-prepared.

“We did not put you in a position to double our taxes,” he said. “We did not put you in the position to not pay attention our roadways, our infrastructure, sidewalks, streets and let them get into the deteriorated condition that they now are. We did not put you in a position to create a population explosion, which you’re now thinking about doing.”

John Faltz’s suggestion drew applause.

“This is clearly a controversial proposal. The issue should not be decided by just five individuals. It should be resolved by a city-wide referendum. That’s the democratic way to decide major issues. Let the city itself decide.”

Kevin Lynch supports the plan for the most part but says the city shouldn’t have to act alone when it comes to fine-tuning it.

“The university said that they would house second-year students.” he said. “If you could get the university to walk the walk on that and make it affordable? I’m not saying don’t do this plan, you’ve got to fix this plan, but that would do more than anything that we’ve talked about to bring students in and open up all that housing for people who need it.”

Other issues addressed by speakers included parking, traffic flow, racial and economic diversity, and the lack of affordable housing.