A Detroit City Council committee will take another week to ponder development incentives for the proposed $1. 5 billion District Detroit project after a deluge of public comments ran out the clock at its Thursday meeting. About 50 people voiced opinions about the project's request for nearly $800 million in incentives and tax breaks during the two-hour meeting of council's Planning and Economic Development Committee. Some of the participants spoke in person and others via Zoom. The marathon comments session left the committee with limited time for a scheduled presentation on a recently signed Community Benefits agreement with the project's developers, and no time for deeper discussions on any details. Committee Chairman James Tate said they will need to meet again next Thursday and really get into "the meat and potatoes" of the incentives request. The next meeting would mark the committee's third week on the project. The incentives request still needs to go before the full council for a vote. A final approval would later come from the Michigan Strategic Fund. There were slightly more public comments Thursday in favor of the project and incentives than opposed to them. Several influential Detroit ministers voiced their support, as did a dozen or so area college students in the Project Destined real estate and business education program who attended in person as a group. “I want to go on record with my strong support of this historic development," said Bishop Edgar Vann, senior pastor at Second Ebenezer Church. "There are so many reasons to do this: the impact on housing, the impact on education with the Detroit Center for Innovation, certainly the 18,000 jobs — 6,000 of them which will be permanent. " More: Fuller details on $1. 5B District Detroit buildout as it nears big vote More: Community Benefits deal for District Detroit buildout moves forward Several individuals who spoke against the project argued that the developers — the Ilitch organization's Olympia Development of Michigan and Stephen Ross' Related Cos. — do not need the incentives and tax breaks to build it. "The public financing is simply giving an $800 million discount to billionaire developers,” said resident William Hickey. The project calls for the construction or rehab of 10 buildings in and around downtown, including 695 new apartments, of which 20% would be reserved at below-market rents. The largest incentive would be a Transformational Brownfield to capture $616 million in mostly future state-level taxes over 35 years. The project is forecast to result in $12 million a year in net new tax revenue for the city, provided that all planned buildings get built and fill with office and residential tenants. The 10 undeveloped sites currently generate $249,000 a year in city tax revenue. Gaston Munoz, president elect of the Detroit Association of Realtors, was among those Thursday who urged council to support the project. "I don’t understand how someone can be saying ‘Don’t do it, ’ " he said. "Any city in the country would be more than happy for this project to be happening there. ” Contact JC Reindl: 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress. com . Follow him on Twitter @ jcreindl . .