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Tuesday night, the Samford's Creekside development moved forward when the planning commission recommended the project to the city council.Four items concerning the project were on the commission's agenda; the two rezoning the area passed unanimously. The other two items concerning the development itself faced opposition, but ultimately passed.Ward 5 Rep. Jennifer Andress voted against the development, citing concerns over the proposed hotel on the property. "It's just so out of place from anything in Homewood," Andress said. "The biggest building we have is that region's tower, which is seven stories, and it is in and of itself standalone. I mean, it's, you know, seven stories high on Highway 31, so the concern is just the largeness of it."Andress said she's also heard from several residents who are upset by the proposal."We were given a packet of emails printed out and the majority of those emails came directly to me so i took it very personally," she said.Another main concern for Andress and its residents is the environmental impact of the development.Paul Freeman, vice president of Friends of Shades Creek, said the project would disrupt the ecosystem."Creekside East is a really special piece of property, home to a unique habitat that we call our spring, or ephemeral ponds; it's a salamander habitat," Freeman said. "Spotted salamanders are really important, sort of a keystone species. They're iconic, they're kind of fun, but what's important about them is for decades, hundreds of years, they've been utilizing these ponds. They breed in these ponds, and then they go live part of their life in the Homewood nature preserve, and then they return as adults."He said he's not against the development, just the location it's in."We're hopeful that the track and field can be located somewhere else rather than right on top of these critical wetland habitats," Freeman said.Andress shared the same sentiment, saying if the hotel and environmental concerns could be remedied, she'd likely support it."I didn't have an issue necessarily with the hotel being there, my issue was the height of the hotel 100%," she said.The development will now go to the full city council on April 14 where the project will be scheduled for a public hearing.