The plan brings a six-story building with 265 apartments, ground-floor retail and a parking deck to the vacant lot that formerly housed the Plaza Theater.
Wednesday was the deadline for town officials to sign off on the first project planned using the new form-based code, but developers asked for a delay.
The Chapel Hill Town Council enacted the first steps of the Ephesus-Fordham renewal plan, paving the way for a new kind of zoning and approval process.
Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said the Council needed time to “stew” on the worries raised by the residents and for members to have their own questions answered.