Wendell — Changes to the plans for Wendell Falls were delayed last week, likely for one month, after commissioners failed to win enough votes to enact the changes.

Wendell commissioners considered a raft of changes to the plan that included such rules changes as the height of buildings and the location of commercial districts within the sprawling new subdivision.

Commissioners voted 3-2 in favor of changing the plan, but the town’s rules say that such changes must gain at least 75 percent of the vote — or four of the five votes.

With that vote, commissioners will take the matter to a second reading at their April meeting. At the second reading the changes could be adopted with just a simple majority.

Commissioners Sid Baynes and Carol Hinnant voted against the request last Monday night.

Both said they weren’t necessarily opposed to the changes requested by Mercury Development, but they want to be sure they have time to review the changes in detail before voting to approve them.

The Wendell Falls project is a planned unit development, or PUD.

That means it has its own set of development rules apart from the rules that govern development in the rest of the town.

Hinnant said despite the fact that commissioners are voting only on rules that govern a single project, it has potential to push developers of other property to seek similar permissions from the town.

“It will probably put pressure on us to grant other requests in the future,” Hinnant said.

Baynes said he worries that rushing through the approval process could create bad decisions the town would be forced to live with.

“There are literally hundreds of changes. The prevailing thought was we worked hard to develop this contract and we don’t need to slow it down. But if we worked hard on it then, why are there so many changes now?” Baynes said.

Baynes also pointed out that some of the changes cede control of the development from the town to the developer.

He pointed to a provision that would give Mercury Development the right to vary lot densities in some places by as much as 10 percent.

“I’d rather have him come back to us when he needs that variation and tell us specifically what he wants to do,” Baynes said.

And, Baynes said, another change would designate one part of the property near Martin Pond Road for commercial development. If the town approves that request and allows construction of buildings as tall as 160 feet, residents could find themselves living next to tall buildings.

“I’d rather see us designate that as a special use so we could look at it on a case-by-case basis,” Baynes said.

Hinnant and Baynes both said they will study the changes before the board reviews the matter again in April.

But Hinnant says commissioners getting answers from the developer and the town staff in one-on-one settings isn’t the way Town Board members should make their decisions.

“The thing is we’re supposed to have open deliberation and when you do this behind closed doors I don’t feel like it’s open deliberation,” Hinnant said.