WATERLOO - Neighbor after neighbor in the Beaver Hills area voiced their concerns Tuesday night about Russ Wasendorf's plan to relocate his international financial brokerage from downtown Chicago to their bucolic neck of the woods.

They believe the change would increase vehicular traffic through the area; it could damage or disrupt the environment around there; it would open the door to commercial development in that area and, once opened, that door would be hard to shut.

In the end, the Black Hawk County Planning & Zoning Commission agreed more with their concerns than economic development benefits supporters of the project touted. They voted, 4-1, to deny Wasendorf's request to rezone land from agricultural to light commercial, in effect killing Wasendorf's plan.

Wasendorf had earlier said he would move his business to another area if the neighborhood didn't want him.

Tuesday night, he said many of the concerns about his project were unfounded, and that some people had misconstrued or distorted his plans in order to galvanize opposition to the project.

"I guess I'm rather taken back, because I didn't expect when you try to bring something positive to the community, you're drug through the mud," Wasendorf said. "It's been a horrible experience. … I'm not inclined to look for another site here."

Wasendorf had offered to buy 22.4 acres of land from Beaver Hills Country Club - and the club's membership agreed to sell it - pending rezoning approval, to build a new headquarters for his Peregrine Financial Group. He planned a three-story mirrored glass building that would use environmentally friendly technology and exceed greenhouse gas emissions standards set forth in the Kyoto Protocol.

Peregrine Financial Group is the 30th largest nonbank financial firm in the U.S., and has 240 offices in 25 countries. Wasendorf wanted to move most of his 70 Chicago employees to the new office, as well as 35 employees who already work in leased office space in Cedar Falls.

After the vote, Wasendorf said he would probably look elsewhere, outside Black Hawk County, for his new headquarters. "I grew up in Cedar Rapids, so I'll probably consider there."

A group of more than 50 people crowded into the council chamber at City Hall for the planning & zoning commission meeting, and spoke for and against it.

Steve Dust, executive director of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance, said the building Wasendorf wanted to build would be a "cornerstone building that we could look at and brag about.

"How many times have we welcomed a business into our community, and the expansion of jobs that go along with it, and then said, 'Well, if they just would have done it a little bit better?'" Dust said.

Mark Miller, a resident of Cedar Falls and a member of the Beaver Hills Country Club, called it "a great benefit for our community, and it's the kind of growth that we're looking for.

"What we have here is the classic story of the goose and the golden egg," Miller said. "I think we have a very nice golden egg here, and we should take care of it."

Opponents did not deny the economic development benefits relocating Peregrine Financial would bring. But they said there were better places to put it.

"I love the idea of this development. I think it's wonderful," said Amy Lockard, who lives at 8824 Slap Tail Trail. "But I do think this is not the spot for that development."

Linda Hall, another resident of the Beaver Hills area, called it "the wrong place for the right idea." She gave commissioners a petition with 61 signatures opposed to the development.

Hall and other residents also questioned the impact the building, and its construction, might have on the environment and the water table. Several spoke of the wildlife that visits their yards, the quiet and the starry sky. They didn't want those animals chased or scared away, the noise of increased vehicle traffic or the light pollution to ruin their view of the night sky.

They also doubted a recent traffic study that showed 1,448 cars a day using the main road into the area now, and would only increase by five percent to 10 percent with Peregrine Financial Group there. They said the number of cars is much higher other times of the year.

Many of them were especially concerned about the precedent the commission would set if they green-lighted Wasendorf's plan. The long-range land use map for the area dubs it a semi-public recreation area. To approve the plan, commissioners would also need to amend that land use map. If they did that, what's to stop the next person who wants to build an office or business in that area?

Hall said she feared urban sprawl encroaching on her neighborhood.

Contact Jeff Wilford at (319) 291-1423 or jeff.wilford@wcfcourier.com.