It appears talks on a developer’s plans for an apartment complex in downtown Janesville have cooled off heading into the holiday weekend.

This week, the city’s plan commission recommended the city council not declare a half-acre parking lot off North Parker Drive “surplus” to sell or convey to Bear Development so the Kenosha developer could build more than 70 units of affordable housing there.

Plan Commission Chairwoman Kathy Voskuil told dozens of people who attended the plan commission meeting that the city council was slated to take up the commission’s recommendation to make a final decision on the North Parker surplus property proposal.

An agenda for Tuesday’s post-Memorial Day city council meeting shows the North Parker item now is not slated for discussion.

It was not clear Wednesday if Bear was still pursuing the North Parker Drive site after the plan commission’s recommendation against it.

Bear’s plan has raised controversy, with some downtown business operators who worry affordable housing on North Parker could hurt downtown’s retail economy.

City officials have defended the plan, saying Bear seeks to build apartments with price points that mesh with the “average” paycheck earner in Janesville.

Big Radio has has reached out to Bear Development for comment, and Big Radio has filed an open records request with the city seeking documents detailing a decision to leave Bear’s proposal off Tuesday’s agenda.

The city of Janesville fulfilled a separate request by Big Radio this week, providing previously unpublished contact information for appointed city committee and commission members.

A previous version of this news article stated that City Manager Kevin Lahner spoke about the Bear development at a local service organization on Wednesday. Lahner tells Big Radio he was not at a service organization — but rather, he was in union negotiations Wednesday morning, and later, at an appointment he says did not deal with city matters.