The Ann Arbor City Council meeting was standing-room only Monday night, when the council voted 8-2 against a resolution to support the development of a full-scale greenway — a path and park system that would run through downtown Ann Arbor.

Monday’s resolution would have been the first step in establishing the Greenway. Council members who voted against the resolution cited the need for more time to investigate their options.

Mayor John Hieftje, who had originally voiced support for the resolution, spoke out against it on Monday night.

“I am very much is favor of a greenway, however, I’m not sure why we need to rush this.” He added that passing the resolution would cut off debate too soon.

Plans for the Greenway have been in discussion for more than a year and were brought to public attention at the last City Council meeting on March 7, when the Downtown Development Authority formally released its Three-Site Plan — which would create two high-rise complexes and a parking structure in downtown.

DDA’s proposal conflicts with supporters’ visions of the Greenway, which calls for more green space in the downtown area than DDA’s plan does. Both plans include a site on First Street and William Street. DDA and Greenway’s supporters disagree about how best to use the site.

DDA’s plan also includes two other building sites: First Street and Washington Street and the South Ashley Street (Kline) Lot. The DDA hopes its plan will “realize several important Ann Arbor Downtown Plan goals, including increasing the number of downtown residents,” according to the DDA’s project website.

DDA also hopes to “maximize opportunity to strengthen a mixed-use downtown neighborhood” and maximize financial return to the City of Ann Arbor. DDA has also proposed the creation of a greenway in its site plan, but its current plan would minimize the land devoted to green space downtown.

Although there is no clear consensus among supporters of the Greenway, one proposal consists of using the land of two city-owned yards — one located at 415 W. Washington St. and the other located at 721 N. Main St. — to create parks by forming a circular pathway around the downtown area that would run along the Allen Creek floodplain. The two sites will be vacant land within two years because the facilities now located on the sites will be relocated to Pittsfield Township.

Along with the circular pathway that would run along the Allen Creek floodplain, the new greenway would include a pedestrian and bicycle path that would be located along the Ann Arbor Railroad, extending from the University Athletic Campus to the Argo Dam and the Huron River.

To show their support for the Greenway plan, hundreds of local residents crammed into City Council chambers Monday night.

Margaret Wong, a local architect and co-chair of Friends of the Ann Arbor Greenway spoke in support of the resolution.

“This issue is really about achieving sustainable livability by balancing increased density downtown with meaningful green, open space,” she said. “A token park at the foot of a six-story parking structure is not our idea of green space,” she added, referring to the DDA’s plan.

“Right now, this is a forgotten area in central Ann Arbor,” Wong said. The goal of the Greenway is to, “reclaim this area and allow it to become a positive part of people’s everyday lives,” she said.

Doug Cowherd, co-chair of the Sierra Club-Huron Valley Group, also voiced support for the Greenway plan and expressed concern that DDA’s plan would turn Ann Arbor into “an urban sea of concrete.”

“It’s not about development, it’s about quality of life,” Cowherd said in reference to opponents’ accusations that Greenway supporters are anti-development. “You can build the buildings, but you can’t make people live there,” he added.

Sonia Schmerl, a member of the Old West Side Association Board also expressed support for the Greenway.

She said building on the floodway, which the DDA’s plan proposes, would not be conducive to the health of downtown Ann Arbor. “Not making it any worse is not the best we can do. … Developing a park would actually improve conditions,” Schmerl added.

But some residents expressed reservations about the resolution at Monday night’s meeting.