CHAPEL HILL - A resident who lives off the N.C. 54 East corridor petitioned the Chapel Hill Town Council on Monday night to set a moratorium on developments proposed along that main entrance to town.

Henry Lister, who lives in Sherwood Forest off Little John Road, told the council at last week's public hearing that Woodmont, one of the several developments proposed for N.C. 54, is not a true mixed-use village as it is currently drawn. He said the current plans do not include enough housing and would not fit in with the heavily residential area.

Since several multiuse developments are being proposed for that highway -- one has recently been approved -- the council should enact a yearlong moratorium in order to buy time to allow more careful growth, especially for large-scale projects, Lister said. He said he is not opposed to development in his backyard but is opposed to the amount of commercial space proposed for Woodmont.

The East 54 project was approved last year to go up where the Best Western University Inn used to be. Developers also are in the early stages of proposing redevelopment of the Glen Lennox shopping center and cottage-style apartments. Woodmont is in the public hearing phase of the review process.

All are presented as mixed-use village developments.

Lister requested the council conduct an "intensive analysis of the corridor and both reaffirm and revise" the document stating the goals for that corridor that was adopted in 1995. He encouraged other neighborhoods to join him in the petition.

"The future of Chapel Hill's character along this major traffic artery depends on the council taking appropriate and immediate action," Lister said.

During the moratorium, the council also should re-examine long-range transportation plans for the N.C. 54 corridor, he suggested, along with how to help pedestrians get across the highway safely.

Mayor Kevin Foy explained that if a moratorium were to be enacted, Woodmont would not be one of the projects to be stalled since it has gone too far in the review process already. He asked the town staff to provide the council with a list of other pending projects for the N.C. 54 East stretch.

Lister then suggested the continuation of the Woodmont public hearing be pushed back far enough to allow time for the developers to return with amended plans that would better fit the town and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Lister was the lone petitioner at Monday's meeting.

The council voted to continue the public hearing for Woodmont to Sept. 8, when the council returns from its summer break.