City council has put the brakes on more proposed development at the Meadow Lakes Golf Course.

In May, developer Jeff Luehmann applied to rezone a vacant parcel of land near holes seven and nine of the golf course to build a development catering to the 50-plus crowd.

The proposed development would have featured up to 22 units — four four-plexes and one six-plex.

The proposal has come under fire from residents of the nearby Fox Haven neighbourhood. They were concerned about how the development would affect their privacy, septic and water systems, and traffic in the area, which is off the Alaska Highway opposite the Wolf Creek subdivision.

On July 4, city council received an administrative report recommending it approve the rezoning bylaw.

Last night, however, several councillors voiced concerns about the project, and the enabling bylaw was ultimately voted down.

Luehmann was present for the vote, but did not speak. He could not be reached for comment by press time this afternoon.

Coun. Florence Roberts said she could not support the bylaw after seeing a report on the proposed septic system which gave preliminary approval for eight units instead of 22.

Other councillors echoed Roberts' concerns.

Coun. Betty Irwin said she was concerned not only about the septic system report, but about a report addressing the availability of water for the new development's wells.

The report said the proposed development would not "significantly” affect pre-existing properties. Irwin said that wasn't good enough.

She noted a development agreement would ensure all septic and water infrastructure for the development would be privately owned and managed.

However, this did not reassure Irwin.

"In the future, if there should prove to be problems with either the wells or the septic fields, the developer will have long sold his interests and problems to the new owners,” she told council last night.

"And they will come looking to the city to fix it because someone will have to take responsibility.”

Luehmann recently took Irwin and Coun. Dave Stockdale on a tour of the proposed development. The excursion did not put Irwin's concerns to rest.

"From a purely aesthetic viewpoint, I think the addition of these five units in the proposed location would be an unsightly intrusion on the golf course itself,” she said. "This is no place for high-density housing, which is what this would be.”

Stockdale's concerns also remained.

"I'm very uncomfortable with this development,” he told council. "There are too many unknowns about this.”

Stockdale said he feels Luehmann has sent "contradictory messages”.

On one hand, he said, property owners say they are not allowed to build secondary suites. On the other hand, though, Luehmann wants to build an entire other real estate project which would increase development substantially.

"I feel that we have to protect the people who bought in good faith in that particular area,” Stockdale said. "I couldn't compromise their living space.”

Coun. Dave Austin told council he has concerns about the development as a whole.

"I can't see us approving the entire development all at once,” he said.

However, Austin wanted to look at making the project work one building at a time.

"If, at some point, the engineers come up and say there isn't enough water, the sewage fields aren't going to work here, then that's it,” he suggested. "End of development.”

Robert Fendrick, the city's director of administrative services, said it would be possible to do the development one building at a time if that was how the development agreement was written.

Fendrick also noted that, if the bylaw was voted down, a motion to reconsider could be submitted.

At the end of the debate, Irwin, Roberts and Stockdale all voted in opposition, and the bylaw to change the property zoning was defeated.