City council has paved the way for a new development in the Blackburn area.

During Monday night's council meeting, Coun. Cameron Stolz - sitting as acting mayor in Shari Green's absence - was alone in opposing third reading of a plan to amend the official community plan and rezone the property at the corner of Giscome Road and Old Cariboo Highway.

The proposed 7.8 hectare development would bring much needed investment to the city, said Coun. Albert Koehler. By adding a service commercial zoning to the property, it would allow retail and other commercial uses for the neighbourhood and travelling public.

R. Radloff and Associate's Dan Milburn, speaking on behalf of the applicant, characterized the project as a much-needed improvement to the area, which currently houses greenhouses abandoned "due to market forces and catastrophic snow damage." e noted that 44 per cent of the total area would remain as the existing zoning of agriculture and forestry.

Coun. Brian Skakun said while he could empathize with a neighbour who attended the public hearing to speak against the size and potential noise and traffic generated by the project, he believed there would be enough of a buffer on either side to mitigate those issues.

Stolz said the project was in the wrong location, with the property a couple of hectares smaller than the land housing the Wal-Mart in College Heights.

He said the city is "spending an enormous amount of taxpayer money" to develop light industrial land in the Boundary Road area and it's not being taken advantage of.

"If this was a slightly smaller application, this would make more sense," said Stolz.

Final reading of the application will be withheld until a traffic impact study is completed.