In expediting work on a Master Plan for an environmentally sensitive upcounty area, the Montgomery County Council last week agreed to delay zoning for a controversial high-rise apartment proposal for Pooks Hill.

Work on the Pooks Hill minor master plan amendment, which would allow for three, 20-story apartments on underused parking lots of the Pooks Hill Marriot (5151 Pooks Hill Rd.), was delayed for as much as 18 months when the County Council moved the Clarksburg Master Plan up in the Planning Department’s work schedule as recommended.

The Clarksburg plan will examine how development might affect Ten Mile Creek, a stream that feeds the county’s drinking water supply.

A Planning Department spokeswoman told The Gazette a public meeting on Pooks Hill recently scheduled for Nov. 13 is unlikely to happen.

The proposal has generated concern from neighboring residents who don’t want added traffic they say would come with the apartments. Some, including Planning Board Commissioner Casey Anderson, have said they want to see how residents of the apartments could easily access Metro stations that or a mile or more away.