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City officials took another step toward annexing the former Lone Oak golf course into the city Monday by approving the first reading of a new ordinance.

The commissioners voted 4-0 in favor of the annexation, with Commissioner Alex Carter abstaining. Carter said previously he lives in the area  of the defunct course.

Nicholasville Mayor Pete Sutherland said there were no comments submitted by the public prior to Monday’s meeting, and there was no discussion of the matter during the commission meeting.

The property has been a contentious topic for the past year, after the golf course closed and was purchased by Tall Oak LLC, which intends to develop the property into multi-unit housing.

Last summer, the commission approved an intent to annex ordinance, which sent the matter to the Planning Commission for public hearings and its recommendations.

The planning commission denied the development plan later in 2019 as well as an updated plan in February 2020 in a 6-5 vote.

The Planning Commission’s vote, though, is merely a recommendation.

The Nicholasville City Commission then approved the zone change ordinances earlier this year, City Clerk Kathy Walker said. Monday’s vote was to finalize the intent to annex ordinance.

Sutherland said he expected the second reading of the ordinance to be in the agenda for the commission’s July 27 meeting.

The developers plan to turn the former golf course into 316 housing units in properties ranging from apartments to town homes.

Residents from the neighborhoods surrounding the course have opposed the annexation and development vigorously, saying the current layout of the neighborhood can’t support that many people, as well as infrastructure issues and limited access to the neighborhood.

In other action Monday, the commissioners:

— approved the first reading of an ordinance to rezone 0.67 acres on Computrex Drive from P-1 professional to I-1 light industrial.

— accepted water and sewer improvements for Halfhill Estates subdivision and released the letter of credit for the project.

— appointed Tanya Bolton to the Board of Adjustments.

— appointed Dawn Whitehead to the code enforcement board.

— hired Billy King, James Howard, Chris Love and Shannon Sanders as temporary full-time police officers.

— approved the final change order for the Orchard sanitary sewer overflow for a maximum of $75,000.

— approved a loan increase for the Orchard SSO project for a maximum of $100,000.