ST. JOSEPH COUNTY — Frustrations continued to grow from dozens of neighbors after a scheduled public hearing on a hotly debated proposal to build new student housing near Notre Dame was delayed for the second time Tuesday night.

Chicago suburban based developer Robert Cimala, a Notre Dame alum, wants to build a 10 unit development that would house 60 students. He calls the project "Legacy Village," and wants to build it just north of the Little Flower Catholic Church on Ironwood Drive.

The property is currently zoned as single family residential. Cimala is seeking to have that changed to a planned unit development or PUD.

That request was scheduled to go before the St. Joseph County Council in early June, but was tabled at Cimala's request so the proposal could be reworked to accommodate neighbors' concerns.

About 60 of those same neighbors showed up to Tuesday night's meeting, led by Father Neil Ryan of Little Flower Catholic Church. WSBT caught up with Ryan a few hours before the meeting, as he was out doing his homework for the meeting.

"You have to widen every road back here," he said, walking the access road behind the church. "At the most, it's 19.5 feet wide. This road is just chip and seal. It just crumbles away! He has 98 parking spaces. We're anticipating those spaces will be full, at least on home football weekends. And they'll be ripping this up even more. No plans have been shown to improve this at all."

Father Ryan says his main concern is for the students who would move in to his neighborhood.

"The safety of those residents is our main issue," he said. "He has nothing for them once they leave his property. It's very dangerous, and that's what he's never taken into consideration."

They were rallying points for Ryan and his neighbors and parishioners; fired up and ready for a fight.

"It's time for us to take our neighborhood back," said Ruthanne Brown, eliciting shouts of approval from the crowd gathered behind her.

But 20 minutes before the bell was set to ring for the fight, the standing room only crowd at the County-City building got the news, that the issue had been pulled off the agenda at Cimala's request.

The whole crowd got up at once to leave, the frustration clear on their faces.

Cimala's attorney Stephen Studer wouldn't say why he'd requested the delay.

"There's some circumstances that we're not able to talk about right now, that asked that we ask to keep this in committee," he said.

A handful of the project's supporters say it's because Cimala was unable to attend.

"I'm all for the project," said Dr. David Mahoney, a dentist whose home and practice are both just a few hundred yards from the proposed development site. "I'm friends with the developer. He called me, and he's from Chicago. He's got back problems. He's on all kinds of medication."

"Everybody seems to think we're trying to buy somebody's vote with this. He can't even walk up the stairs to present his point of view on it," Mahoney continued.

The lack of a formal debate didn't stop one from breaking out in the hallway anyway.

The project was scaled back to just 10 buildings housing 60 students, said Studer. Balconies have also been removed. The original proposal called for 13 buildings for 104 students. Primary access for the development would also be from Douglas Road, and not Ironwood Drive.

Many neighbors said while the changes are an improvement, they don't address student safety and the potential for unruly behavior.

"We have students in our neighborhood now," said Brown. "We know what the problems are. We don't need anymore problems."

Others said the project's location hadn't been thought through.

"The developer should be responsible for paving the road to at least 27 feet wide, like the other major roads are here, and adding more lighting," said Father Ryan. "This is just a problem waiting to happen. Only one car can fit by at a time. And if there's a bicycle or someone walking? Someone has to dive into a bush to keep from being killed!"

Studer says traffic studies show the housing would only add six to seven cars per hour, and the current roads can handle that. He says the developer is not willing to make improvements.

"You can't expect a developer to come in and spend $3 million to $4 million of private capital, not asking for tax abatements or any special treatment, and also redo county roads," he said.

Studer also says the project would mean a huge boost to the county's tax base.

"With trending, we're looking somewhere between $800,000 to $1 million dollars over the next ten years in property taxes to this property alone. That all goes to the county."

"Your tax [gains] go right out the window when you have to do all that roadwork," argued Ryan. "He may have a good idea, but take it somewhere else."

They are all familiar arguments and for now, it appears they'll continue as both sides prepare to do battle another day.

"We had about 40 presentations prepared in advance for this meeting," said Marty McKiernan, who also lives close to the proposed project site. "That number will go up each time there's a delay."

"[This isn't going to stop us,] said Brown. "It's going to make us even more determined."

The public hearing has been tentatively rescheduled for August 12.