Chapel Hill police officers will not be taking their police cars home with them at night.

"I have a problem with vehicles leaving Chapel Hill if they are not on call," Alderman Marion Joyce said.

The other aldermen shared her opinion, unanimously voting down the resolution that would have allowed officers to take their cars home with them at night.

Police Chief Andrew Kon had raised the question at last month's Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting, citing the practice as a benefit other area departments offered.

He expressed concern that the department remained competitive when it came to hiring qualified officers and also stated that, at times driving to work, officers witnessed traffic violations that they could not address in their personal vehicles.

Chapel Hill had a policy that allowed town employees to take work vehicles home a few years ago but ended the practice when issues about acceptable use were raised.

The Chapel Hill Planning Commission approved a proposed plan of service for an annexation request from a developer.

The board examined the next steps in the process to ultimately annex the property on Highway 99 where the developer plans a 300-unit, mixed use retirement village.

The town would not commit itself to water or sewer service at the site in order to avoid overcommitting itself to services it might not be able to provide in a cost-effective manner.

The required public notices and public hearing will probably push a vote on the annexation to February's board meeting.

Town Administrator Mark Graves updated the board on the current status of various projects.

The town is in the process of creating a steering committee to guide the Tennessee Department of Transportation planning grant that will study transportation, land use, and economic development moving into the future for Chapel Hill.

The board agreed to a TDOT approved consultant to assist with the process.

The sewer expansion project, funded by a Community Development Block Grant, is ready to begin, barring an environmental survey needed to assess potential populations of threatened bat species along the construction corridor.

Graves also said that opportunities had arisen for the town to add more parking in the downtown area, and that the board would need to discuss in the future if more parking was needed or wanted in the commercial area of town.