JEFFERSON — Two proposed rezoning requests brought residents out en masse to Monday’s Jefferson City Council work session.

Around 60 residents, both in opposition to and in support of the requests, spent more than an hour speaking about a proposed rezoning on Y Z Sailors Road for a proposed community development for residents ages 55 and older and another request from First United Methodist Church of Jefferson for property on the corner of Storey and Cooley streets.

“The property is located approximately one and a half miles from downtown Jefferson and city water and sewer lines run through the property,” Craig Taylor, representative of the property’s owner Elora Stargel, said about the development.

According to Taylor, the project could potentially bring in $100,000 in property tax revenue, as well as provide other assets to the community that are associated with senior residents.

“Seniors are often not a burden on the community, certainly not on the school systems,” said Taylor. “In most cases, they are an asset.”As it is currently being proposed, the project would include 40 single-family, detached condominiums. Residents would be purchasing “the airspace between the walls of their home,” but the condominium classification would allow the project’s developers greater control over the upkeep of the grounds and green spaces in the development, Taylor said.

Residents in the area are opposed to the development for several reasons, including increased traffic and possible loss of quality of life.

“We have been on Y Z Sailors Road for three years and we have come to love our little street. This is a very rural street — there’s a cattle farm, a chicken farm and a horse farm there — it’s not meant to be a neighborhood,” said Tracie Gibbons.

“I understand what happens to a town when it is developed, that’s why we left (the metro Atlanta area). Forty houses means 80 cars — everyone has two cars. We already have to cross the street to get to our mailboxes; we don’t need more cars on this road. This development isn’t fit for the area. It is unsafe.”

Residents of the Jefferson Historic District also oppose a rezoning request and subsequent expansion in their neighborhood for potential traffic complications.

Among other things, the project could involve expanding the church’s parking lot, which would allow the methodist church to accommodate around 225 vehicles. Currently, church officials say there are around 57 official parking spaces.

Neighbors in the adjacent historic district fear by expanding its parking lot, the church would compound traffic congestion issues on the surrounding narrow streets, instead of reducing the problem as church officials plan.

Church officials say that if their request is denied, they may potentially have to relocate their church from its current downtown campus to the church’s additional property outside the city limits.

The council is expected to take action on the agenda items during its voting session on Dec. 28.