CHAPEL HILL - The Town Council voted Monday night to allow the homeowners of the Glen Lennox neighborhood to circulate a petition to start the process to become a Neighborhood Conservation District.

The homeowners must demonstrate that a majority of them want to designate the neighborhood as a conservation district by submitting a petition with at least 51 percent of their signatures to the town. Once the petition is submitted, phase one can begin, which includes the town holding a public information meeting for the residents on conservation district guidelines and establishing a preliminary boundary of the district.

Monday night, the council set preliminary boundaries for the petitioners: Fordham Boulevard to the east, N.C. 54 to the south, Sugarberry Road to the west, and a little beyond Indian Springs Road to the north.

The Glen Lennox homes were built after World War II for returning soldiers who wanted to study at UNC-Chapel Hill. Throughout the years, many students, young married couples and retirees have lived in the cottage-style apartments and houses. The apartments are considered "modest" and affordable.

Grubb Properties, the company that owns the shopping center and apartments, recently submitted a concept plan to the town, proposing to tear down the shops and apartments in phases and replace them with a multiple-use village, including townhouses, single-family houses, apartments and condominiums.

By Monday, at least 24 e-mail messages were sent to the town from Glen Lennox residents opposing redevelopment. At the Town Council meeting, more than 50 supporters of a movement to preserve Glen Lennox attended, while six of them stood up to speak on the matter.

Mary Dexter, the homeowner who first petitioned the council for Glen Lennox to be designated a Neighborhood Conservation District, said that even after 60 years it remains a vibrant, cohesive, continuous neighborhood where the neighbors all know and look out for one another.

Greg Brusseau, who owns a home on Flemington Road, said he doesn't think Grubb Properties is being good developers in terms of land management and stewardship. "Chapel Hill is on the verge of losing the small-town character and charm that permits us to stay," Brusseau said. "It is not Raleigh; it is not Cary."

Michael Brough, the attorney for Grubb Properties, argued that the Glen Lennox houses and apartments are not "physically cohesive," therefore the apartments should not be categorized with the houses under the conservation district terms. He argued also that the residents were prompted to turn Glen Lennox into a conservation district only when they learned that Grubb wanted to redevelop it. He added that to mix and match the redevelopment process with the conservation district process would only add to the confusion.

Council member Matt Czajkowski said the view of the residents is representative of how others also see Chapel Hill -- mass-transit-oriented with small-town charm worth preserving.