Athens-Clarke County commissioners unanimously approved two new housing developments bringing in over 550 new housing units on opposite ends of the county at a meeting on Tuesday night.

Commissioners first approved a 44-acre project on Cleveland Road and Atlanta Highway near the Caterpillar plant. Joseph Bates of SPG Planners and Engineers, which is developing the property, spoke in favor of the project.

"This is workforce housing," Bates told commissioners. "Townhomes are good starter homes, perhaps housing for folks who are starting their career at Caterpillar across the street."

Bates did not, however, give an estimate of the starting price for homes in the development.

The Cleveland Road project was initially controversial, drawing concerns and criticism from existing residents of the area at a Planning Commission meeting in late June. No one showed up to oppose the plan at Tuesday’s meeting, however, and the project has been tweaked since its introduction.

Commissioner Jesse Houle, who represents the area, said they regretted the removal of multifamily housing from the project’s original design, but noted that doing that probably led to the project being non-controversial in its current form.

"I personally had wished that [the multifamily units] had stayed, because they were going to use our inclusionary zoning ordinance and give us some affordable units mixed in with their market rate units," Houle said. "And I think that's the exact kind of housing that we need - not only affordable housing, but affordable housing that's built in a way that's the same quality and mixed in with market rates."

In a separate pair of votes, commissioners also signed off on a new development in the north part of the county. That project, near the Kroger shopping center on Highway 29, will build 12 apartment buildings, containing a total of 330 one-, two-, and three-bedroom units.

District 9 Commissioner Ovita Thornton represents that area.

"The location of this site, addressing the housing shortage that we do have, I do think that this is going to be good for Athens in the long run," she said.

The passage of these two developments spurred District 10’s Mike Hamby to float the idea of using local government funding to help create affordable housing units within upcoming developments.

"Atlanta does this," he said. "The way Atlanta is successful with their affordable housing, so many units on the ground, is because they do offer subsidies to the developers and to the builders in order to get it done."

Commissioners passed both the west side and north side developments unanimously. A third proposal to expand an apartment complex on the east side and add 96 new bedrooms, also passed unanimously.