Georgetown City Council voted 6-1 on June 24to approve rezoning more than 116 acres behind Ford Elementary School and the Woodlake subdivision near Williams and Wildwood drives to 109.5 acres of residential single family and about 6.5 acres of neighborhood and local commercial. Councilwoman Patty Eason voted against.

Developer Brian Birdwell proposed building 299 residential lots on the property.

Several residents in the Woodlake subdivision opposed rezoning the property citing traffic, safety and flooding concerns.

I have no problem with the whole neighborhood, but you need to come up with a different way to get in there, Woodlake resident John Bruce said, adding that increased traffic through his neighborhood could cause safety issues for the children who often play in the street. Youre jeopardizing my familys safety.

Residents requested Birdwell seek a lower density zoning that would still allow residential development on a smaller scale.

Birdwell said he understood the residents concerns and planned to address them through the citys planning process. He said he did request the residential single-family zoning because that is what would work in the market.

Part of the business is that we have to address [these issues] to be good stewards of our community, he said. But what we do is we go through the process that the city has outlined for us. We need the opportunity to address those concerns.

The rezoning ordinance had been postponed at the June 10 City Council meeting and Birdwell was asked to provide a few more details of the project.

City Planning Director Andrew Spurgin said the projects plan is still under review by city staff members, which includes a traffic impact analysis and several other plan elements.