CEDAR FALLS - A year ago Jim Benda's plans for a strip mall just east of Joker's was rejected by the slimmest of margins by the City Council.

On Monday, Benda came back with a revamped plan, but was served a dose of deja vu.

In both instances, Benda's plans received the backing of the majority of the City Council. However, as was the case a year ago, the 5-2 margin wasn't enough to meet the supermajority vote needed to approve rezoning over the objections of neighbors.

Susan deBuhr and Kamyar Enshayan cast the two votes against the proposal.

Benda had taken many of the comments of a year ago into consideration when forming the new plan. He had heard that neighbors didn't want one strip mall building and drew up plans for two smaller buildings. He listened to neighboring homeowners say the building was too big for the size of the property and he bought out one of the objectors' property and downsized the plan.

But in the end, arguments from neighbors that said the plan just caused too much disruption for people who own homes next to the property swayed the two council members who voted against it.

"What I'm hearing is that people are concerned we're eroding a well-established residential area," Enshayan said after an hour of arguments for and against the zoning change.

The property lies on University Avenue between Hillcrest and McClain drives. Benda proposed tearing down five house, most of them rentals, and replacing them with the two commercial buildings.

More than a decade ago the city amended its comprehensive land use map to plan for future commercial development up and down University Avenue. The planned zoning for that area would be a planned commercial classification, the type for which Benda had applied.

Gary Kelley lives across University Avenue from the property. He said the strip mall proposal would detract from the quality of life enjoyed by residents who had long owned homes in the neighborhood.

"You look out every day and see a strip mall. No matter how many plantings you put in, you can't block it," Kelley said of what he would see if the plan were approved.

Benda said the University Avenue corridor needs fresh development.

"I would urge you to consider what happens if you don't continue to develop that area and it becomes blighted," Benda said.

Some neighboring property owners had submitted objections to the proposal, some of them telling the council that many existing commercial properties in the city are sitting vacant, and that such a strip mall proposal would be better placed in one of those areas.

Before voting in favor of the project, Councilman Frank Darrah said he appreciated the efforts Benda made to change his plans to make the proposal more acceptable to neighbors.

Contact Jon Ericson at (319) 291-1402 or jonathan.ericson@wcfcourier.com.