The Holladay Planning Commission plans to spend two more hours Tuesday going though a proposal for developing the old Cottonwood Mall site — capping the 16 hours it’s spent over the past two months — and then vote on a recommendation to the City Council.

That will start the process anew, with more public hearings and questions for the developers — including addressing topics beyond the scope of the Planning Commission, such as possible tax incentives.

The commission’s discussion will resume at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Holladay City Hall, 4580 S. 2300 East.

Tax rebates were part of a plan approved 10 years ago for a commercial-oriented development on the 57-acre site, with 90-foot buildings permitted through 70 percent of the property, except for a small residential area on the south end abutting an existing neighborhood.

That plan went nowhere as the world of malls changed after the Great Recession.

Now, Ivory Homes is looking to devote two-thirds of the site to residential development — a mixture of single-family homes, two- to three-story townhomes, four-story brownstones and apartments.

Woodbury Corp. would develop a mixed-use area on the corner of Highland Drive and Murray-Holladay Road. That complex would revolve around an envisioned 136-foot office tower, an architectural attraction intended to entice a top-flight company to town.

Developer Mack Woodbury said a smaller structure would not give the project the uniqueness it needs to succeed.

“If you try to bring in a marquee tenant, you don’t build a standard-form office building,” he said. “You need a building with prominence to attract that first tenant and have an anchor.”

But at the last meeting, as before, Holladay residents turned out en masse to oppose the proposed 136-foot height limit.

“This will be the hellhole of Holladay,” one man shouted as he stormed out of the meeting, angry he couldn’t speak about the evolving plan because the public-hearing portion of the Planning Commission’s proceedings was over.

“After 10 years of studying this property by [current owner] Howard Hughes Corp. and Woodbury, I’d put those two and their knowledge of what will work here over any heckling,” responded Ivory Homes President Chris Gamvroulas. “We have studied this to death.”

Nevertheless, comments by several Planning Commission members suggested the residents’ position has their support.

Commissioner Alyssa Lloyd wanted to see more retail outlets stretching south into the residential area, as in the original development plan.

“This is designated as a mixed-use, but I see it being housing and I don’t see a lot of mix in the use,” she said. “I’m trying to get to ‘yes’ [on a vote], but ‘yes’ doesn’t mean I’ll say ‘yes’ to what’s in front of me. As the community needs to give, you need to give. There could be less single-family residential.”

Added her colleague Marianne Ricks: “I don’t necessarily agree [with a staff report] that this proposal supports the Holladay general plan. … Where do we get our tax base if we lose this? Is it financially responsible?”

One commissioner not opposed to the requested 136-foot height, Jan Bradshaw, will be out of town for Tuesday’s vote.

The City Council is not compelled to go along with the commission’s recommendation and is free to accept, reject or modify arguments by both the public and the developers.