After two months of postponing its decision, the Bastrop City Council denied a zoning change request on Tuesday, ending the widely unpopular plans to build a mixed-use development called Bastrop Gateway on the hill behind Buc-ee’s.

Place Designers, the Gateway’s developer, applied to rezone the 31 acres between Texas 71 and Texas 21 this year. The city hosted a community meeting with the developer on April 2 to allow residents to share their initial concerns.

In the months since initially presenting its plan to the City Council on April 9, the developer has made numerous revisions, responding to residents’ questions and concerns about the project, most notably regarding how it would like to rezone and use the land.

“We are asking for less than 60% of what we were asking in the initial design,” said Steven Biegel, the project’s architect. “We’ve had a number of sessions with the neighbors on the property, and the developers have taken everything said very seriously.”

Originally, the developer proposed rezoning all of the land to become P5 Core, the city’s densest land-use zone, allowing for mixed commercial and residential space. The developer’s latest proposal on Tuesday asked for a mix of P5 Core and P2 Rural, with the P2 zones closest to the single-family homes in the Lost Pines neighborhood. Throughout the process, the developer asked for exceptions to what the city code allows in each zoning category.

“What we’re really saying (about the P2 zoning) is that it’s really a P4,” Council Member Cynthia Meyer asked of city staff after they explained the exceptions the developer requested.

Per the city code, developers can build up to two stories and have up to 40% of the ground cover not absorbing runoff. The Bastrop Gateway developer requested to build three-story buildings with up to 70% of the ground cover not absorbing runoff.

“There’s a lack of trust (about) what’s actually going to happen if and when it’s changed to P5,” Council Member Cheryl Lee said, using the Pearl River development on the west side of town as an example. “In terms of the multiple meetings we’ve had, even today, there’s confusion as to what exactly we’re approving.”

Biegel said the developer couldn’t answer many of the questions the City Council and residents had about the proposed development and its impact on the city’s infrastructure until the council approved the zoning and the appropriate impact studies could occur.

City Manager Sylvia Carrillo laid out the process that would have taken place if the City Council had approved the zoning change. She said if the council approved the change, it would have the opportunity to stop the development at many points.

Many residents continued to express opposition to the development, citing reasons such as its impact on wildlife, the potential burden on the city’s infrastructure and location.

“Those trees are actually quite important to Bastrop,” resident Pablo Serna said of the forest on the proposed development site. “Back to the history of the founding of Bastrop, the Spanish explorers wrote about the trees — the Camino Real was right through there. … We understand development is coming, but we need to look at development that’s not this impacting on the environment.”

After the public hearing concluded, council members started to share their concerns about the development.

“This proposal touched a nerve,” Council Member Kerry Fossler said. “It’s only the location. I don’t have a problem with the density. … I don’t think a win-win is possible in this location. I think we can pioneer (a development like this) somewhere else.”

Ultimately, the council voted to deny the rezoning request in a 4-1 vote, with Council Member Kevin Plunkett dissenting. After Meyer made the motion to deny the request, but before the council voted, Biegel said the developer would retract its rezoning application if the City Council didn’t table the item a fourth time.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: City Council denies zoning change to Bastrop Gateway development