At Monday night’s public hearing, the Chapel Hill Town Council postponed approving the 55-acre mixed-use development proposed for Eubanks Road.

Council member Donna Bell imagined visiting an unpleasant development in the future. She said, “I would hate to go by in ten years and go ‘ohhh, I approved that?’”

Bell and other council members said they welcome the opportunity for economic development, but in this project called The Edge, the applicant has too many requests that would affect the way the project moves forward. So the town is delaying granting a special use permit to Northwood Ravin, the developer, while officials consider the requests.

Northwood Ravin is asking the town to pay $1 million to $1.5 million for improvements to Eubanks Road. And the developer wants permission to build on a space the town has designated for environmental protection.

“Perhaps the biggest way to remove one of the warts on this site, which is visibility, is building a section of the RCD,” said Adam Golden, vice president of development for Northwood Ravin.

Golden is talking about the protected area, a “resource conservation district” or RCD. He said if the town grants permission to expand onto the five acres of RCD where there’s an intermittent steam, Northwood Ravin would build more retail.

“I don’t think we’ve had an RCD question like this,” said Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt. “I mean excuse me. I need to take a deep breath. I’ve never seen that before.”

At a public hearing in December, council members pressed the developer, Northwood Ravin, to increase the amount of commercial space in the proposed development. This became one of the sticking points again in Monday night’s discussion about the development.

If allowed to expand onto the RCD, Golden said, Northwood Ravin could build 270,000 square feet of commercial space including a hotel, 78,000 square feet of office space and 510 residential units.

The council will hold another public hearing on February 23, when it will reopen the topic of granting Northwood Ravin a special use permit. A development agreement comes later in this process.

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