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Faced with a massive public outcry, the Salem City Council on Monday denied a zoning request that would have allowed for 150 apartment units to be built on 7.4 acres of land off Liberty Road at the south edge of Salem.

Salem Planning Commission members originally denied the zone change but changed their minds in the recommendation ultimately forwarded to the city council. Council members, however, endorsed the planning commission’s original decision.

Developer Mark Grenz‘s proposed multifamily development generated a lot of opposition from existing neighbors. More than 100 of them showed up to protest the project at the planning commission’s Sept. 4 meeting. Their concerns focused on noise, traffic and congestion. City council members apparently shared those concerns.

鈥淭his is not a death knell to multifamily,鈥� said councilor Richard Clausen. 鈥淚t’s just got to be done right. I don’t feel this is harmonious with the area.”

The council was split 5-3 on the vote to change the zoning from residential agriculture to multifamily residential.

Planning Commission Chairman James Lewis said the amount of public testimony was overwhelming. He has served on the planning commission for nine years, he said, and he has rarely seen this level of public outcry. A lot of the testimony from his fellow Salem residents about renters was “disappointing,” he said.

“Nowhere in all these comments was there any sense of welcoming these people to the neighborhood,” said Lewis.

Pat O’Dell of the South Gateway Neighborhood Association said he and his fellow association members do not have problems with apartment dwellers in general.

“There are times when it’s OK to mix single and multifamily developments, but it should be avoided whenever possible,” he said.