A proposed $57 million senior living development called Heritage Farms will get its final public hearing for a zoning change in about five months.

Following a request from the developer to continue the item, the Colleyville City Council on Tuesday night unanimously voted to push discussion on the item to their Oct. 1 meeting.

Cirrus Health CEO Don Wilson, whose team is developing the Heritage Farms project, said he plans to bring a revised plan for the council to consider at a future date.

Wilson proposed to entirely finance the design and construction of a new roundabout at the intersection of Cheek Sparger and Bedford roads to ease traffic concerns expressed by residents at previous meetings. He also suggested other changes to the plan, including removing all waiver requests related to building setbacks. Those plans, though, still did not sit well with residents opposing the project as being a poor fit for the location. Wilson said he plans to continue finding solutions to detractors' concerns in the coming months.

"There seems to be a big push back as to the size of the independent living building and we embark today on a design study to lessen the size of that building," he said. "So that building was previously expressed as a 200,000-square-foot building. It will no longer be 200,000 feet."

The proposed 19.8-acre mixed-used development Heritage Farms project, geared toward people ages 55 and older, includes four developments on property between Wayne Drive and Bedford Court:

• The Homestead at Heritage Farms (15,000 square feet of retail and office space)
• The Inn at Heritage Farms (74 assisted living beds and 54 memory care beds)
• The Residences at Heritage Farms (50 independent living residences)
• The Cottages at Heritage Farms (12 independent living cottages)

Wilson told the council he will continue to gather citizen input to discover the best answer for the development.

"We are making these changes so that we can be consistent with what we heard as issues," Wilson said. "And while I think it is probably impossible to meet everybody's goals, we think that we have come a long way in addressing each of them. And on our schedule, we intend to continue meeting with folks and try to drive towards what we think is the best answer."

Before the council decided on the future meeting date, more than a dozen residents voiced their opinions about the proposed development. Potentially adding to existing traffic problems and lowering residential property values were common concerns voiced Tuesday night as well as in previous meetings.

Albert Gonzalez lives in the Saddlebrook subdivision. Gonzalez said he supported the product, but opposed the development's location near his home.

"I am a financial adviser; I sell long-term care. I put people in facilities like this," he said. "There are 26 other facilities like this within our boundaries — in our town, on the edge of where we are right now — they are not full. Obviously our population is aging, but I think as a coined phrase: You are trying to shoehorn something in an area that it shouldn't be put into."

Mary Ellen Emery, who lives in Tara Plantation subdivision, originally opposed the plan but has come around, she said.

"I listened to Mr. Wilson and to his gentlemen friends and I looked at the plans, and after a while I changed my mind," she said. "Just so you know, we were at one time against Tara Village coming in. And I am not sure that Tara Village is that good of a thing for that area, it is half full most of the time. Maybe bringing in this project will expand Tara Village."

Tara Village is a small shopping center at the intersection of Cheek Sparger and Bedford roads.

Since the Council's May 1 meeting, at which the project was also discussed, the city has received 64 letters of support and 24 letters of opposition regarding the request to rezone the property, said Ron Ruthven, the city's community development director.

The majority of residents at previous public meetings expressed opposition to the development. However, Wilson said the project has supporters, too.

"A lot of the support letters you got for this project are other folks in Colleyville that see a demand and see a need for this kind of product," Wilson said. "So not only will we reach out to Saddlebrook and Tara, but we will be reaching out to the broader community in what they want to see in the city in terms of services."

Mayor David Kelly, who lives near the property, has recused himself from discussions.