The Athens-Clarke Commission will take another month or two to tidy up a proposed law requiring businesses and multifamily dwellings to provide recycling.

Property manager Mike Power and sanitation company owner Courtney Elder told commissioners Tuesday that they can't implement the law. Apartment residents will mix up recycling with garbage, and they can't control tenants' behavior, they said. "There is a great deal of misunderstanding, frustration and, frankly, fear," Mayor Nancy Denson said.

As several commissioners explained, they misunderstood what the law would do. It would just require businesses and apartment complexes to have places to put recyclable items like bottles, cans, newspapers and pizza boxes, just as trash collectors are required to offer recycling pickup to single-family residents. It doesn't force people to actually use them.

"We've needed these changes for 20 years," Commissioner Ed Robinson said. "It's going to be hard, but not as hard as the panicked responses I've heard."

Athens is "famous" for trash containers full of recyclable items, said Robinson, who recalled Dumpster diving for cans to sell for pocket money. "That was very profitable at the age of 12," he said.

Commissioner Kelly Girtz proposed holding the ordinance for up to 60 days to continue tweaking it, the second such delay. "When we launch this, we want to launch it effectively," he said.

Some commissioners said they were ready to vote on the law Tuesday, but they went along with Girtz's motion. "I will be voting in favor of a recycling ordinance sometime in the next 60 days," Commissioner Alice Kinman said. "I just want to be clear about that."

The commission also signed off on a roundabout—a circular intersection with no light—at Tallassee and Whitehead roads. Many nearby residents objected to it even though roundabouts are safer, faster and more efficient than traditional intersections, Commissioner Jared Bailey said. "I think a lot of the negative comments are brought about by fear of the unknown," he said. "...When people get used to it, I think they'll like it." The $2.8 million project is only partially funded after voters rejected a transportation sales tax referendum July 31.

The commission approved several rezonings as well. The fraternity Phi Kappa Tau is moving into a former sports bar at Broad and Finley streets. Hugh Acheson's Five & Ten restaurant is moving into a bigger, fancier historic house and former antiques store on South Milledge Avenue. Another restaurant, Donderos', is moving into a larger location on North Milledge Avenue. The pet store Pawtropolis is opening up on Olympic Drive. But the commission turned down a permit for a personal care home on Lavender Road because residents said their neighborhood is being taken over by such homes.