The man who wants to create the north-east’s first “live-work” scheme will have to wait until after the summer to see if he has passed his first planning hurdle.
Businessman John Forbes believes the development at Foveran would reduce the number of commuters while acting as an alternative to people already working at home.
Under the plans, a mix of 14 two, three and four-bedroom houses would be built, each with a separate designated work area.
There would also be six individual business-only units built on the site at Rashirieve.
Mr Forbes, who runs family firm Bon Accord Granite, originally put forward plans for 22 units but they were thrown out by councillors and the Scottish Government in 2012.
They ruled the scheme breached the local development plan, which identifies the land for employment use.
Mr Forbes has previously stressed the scheme is not an attempt to get a housing scheme built on the land, and believes it would be a “unique” development for the Energetica corridor.
But although his plans have now been scaled back, Aberdeenshire Council’s planning service again urged councillors to reject the scheme this week, arguing that as 59% of the site would be used for residential purposes, and it is still against the policy.
However, the Formartine area committee agreed to defer the application after hearing Mr Forbes had applied to change the allocated land use to housing.
It will now be discussed when the council reconvenes after the summer recess.