The Abilene City Council failed to pass a conditional-use permit for a proposed apartment complex on 15 acres near Memorial Drive in southwest Abilene, even with two separate votes Thursday.

More than 25% of those who responded to the permit request were in opposition, meaning the item required a supermajority of the council - six yes out of seven - to pass.

The city's planning and zoning commission already had placed recommended restrictions on the project, including limiting apartment buildings adjacent to Memorial Drive and the north property line to a height restriction of two stories, with a land-use buffer along the north property line and a 7-foot masonry wall along memorial drive.

Council members in both motions suggested moving the entryway on Memorial as far south as possible, while the first motion, made by Councilman Kyle McAlister, suggested some of the apartment buildings be one story, rather than two.

A second motion, made by Councilman Shane Price, suggested moving the entrance as far south as possible, but otherwise keeping to the P&Z recommendations.

Both motions failed, the first by a 4-3 vote in favor, supported by McAlister, Weldon Hurt, Travis Craver and Donna Albus. It was opposed by Price, Lynn Beard and Mayor Anthony Williams.

The second motion, which also failed 4-3, was supported by Hurt, Albus, and Williams, while Beard, McAlister and Craver voted against it.

Agents for the applicant argued development in the area was inevitable and that the apartment complex use was actually the best for the spot.

They stated the project already had been reduced in size, limiting its maximum density and that the development would produce less traffic than other options.

The property as zoned allows for a number of businesses that do not require council approval, including modular homes and a hotel/motels, single-family detached homes, institutional homes, certain body shops and other uses such as liquor stores, fuel sales, ATMs, restaurants and brew pubs.

McAlister said since 2014, the property had been owned by Windmill Circle Apartments LLC.

"If you've purchased your property since 2014, you have known that across the street is a piece of property owned by an apartment complex," he said.

McAlister said there had been good compromises proposed, but added it was important for property owners, before they purchased property, to know who their neighbors, and potential neighbors, would be.

"If you really don't want something going in on the property next to you, buy it," he said.

Price said that if the request was denied, the property could in theory be split into as many as five different parcels, with five different uses, potentially exacerbating traffic and other concerns expressed by residents in the area.

"This is not going to stay undeveloped forever," he said. "And having the opportunity to put the conditional uses in gives us an opportunity to provide protections that we can, while minimizing the overall impact."

A five-story hotel could potentially have more of a negative impact on existing properties, he argued, than the proposed apartment complex.

A large number of residents filed cards or spoke in opposition to the project, while some residents held up yellow cards indicating they were opposed.

On the flipside, residents and employees of the company that planned to build the apartment complex cited the community feel of other properties owned locally and stringent requirements for residents, including background checks and income requirements.

Cindy Haley Ramsey, speaking for those in opposition, said that while she was not opposed to growth and progress, she was opposed to the apartment complex because of concerns about long-maintenance, a large number of apartment complex already built or being built in the area, and that in her and others' opinion, the project would not "fit in to the natural progress, uniformity or established character" of existing neighborhoods.

If apartments were built on the property, Ramsey said they should be limited to one story and be built to be a "like kind and quality of the existing homes."

Brenda Huffty, area director for Weidner Apartment Homes, said residents' concerns were valid, but that the company did not plan to build a tax credit property or accept Section 8 housing.

"This will be a state-of-the-art community with man amenities that will create a quality living experience in our community," she said, catering to "high-end" residents such as doctors, airmen, nurses teachers and other professionals.

Weidner purchased the property in 2011 with the intent to build an apartment community when the market became favorable, Huffty said.

"That time has come," she told the council, adding that "elite" apartment communities in Abilene are almost fully leased or occupied.

During public comments, a number of other Weidner employees spoke, adding that residents are held to a high standard with credit and background checks, limits on how many people can occupy an individual apartment, etc. that they argued are higher than the standards for outright buying a home.

They also mentioned the company's work with community organizations, donating supplies, manpower and other resources toward organizations such as the Alliance for Women & Children, Salvation Army, food banks and New Beginnings, a program to help women released from prison.

Nova Underwood, a former Realtor now a Weidner employee and resident, was among those who spoke in favor, stating that mortgage companies do not do background checks as stringently as her company.

"It's easier for a convicted felon and a registered sex offender to purchase a house anywhere in Abilene," she said.

Residents living in the area opposed the development based on concerns about traffic congestion, school overcrowding, a potential increase in crime, a potential decrease in property values and – according to some letters submitted to the council – an “overall degradation” of the neighborhood’s appearance.

In a letter read by a friend to the council, Debbie Riggs, a resident of the area, said that after her husband's death she moved to a neighborhood near the proposed development for a fresh start.

Having only lived there for nine months, she already was considering a move if the project came to pass.

"I'm speaking from my heart, and I'm asking you, begging you, to know that this is more than about numbers," Riggs wrote. "It's also very personal to so many of us. If you pass a zoning request today, tomorrow there will be a 'For Sale' sign in front of my home. And I do not have a Plan B."