A large housing tract in the southeast part of Clovis will be delayed a little longer after council members deadlocked on a plan for 352 homes.

The council did move forward with approving future zoning for 272 acres that will serve as a mixed-use "downtown" project to include businesses, homes, trails and parks in southeast Clovis.

After the tie vote on the houses, being developed by Lennar Homes on 118 acres south of Shaw and north of Gettysburg avenues and between Leonard and Highland avenues, council members voted to reconsider the development May 4.

If approved, the housing tract will extend the Loma Vista development an additional mile.

The project has been planned since 2003, and Council Member Lynne Ashbeck said she was opposed to the plan because the market has changed. She also said she did not like the pattern of the lots.

Council Member Bob Whalen said he thought it was premature to change the city's housing plan to allow the project.

Mayor Harry Armstrong and Council Member Nathan Magsig supported the plan. Council Member Jose Flores was absent.

Resident Karen McGregor, who lives east of the proposed Lennar project, said she does not like the design of the subdivision because its four parks sit on a central streetcorner and could be dangerous to children playing in them. She also was opposed because she did not believe it met the spirit of the city's higher-density plans for Loma Vista.

She said the Lennar project was a "cookie-cutter" plan.

With each of the housing tract's four sections containing a park, Les Peterson of Lennar Homes said street crossings will be minimized because people will not be walking to one central park in one part of the development.

Council members did designate zoning for a 272-acre portion of the "community center" project, which is generally south of Bullard Avenue, west of Leonard and east of DeWolf avenues.

The community center project will be done in a high-density setting that features an old-fashioned village green, a network of trails and a "downtown" main street of offices or houses above or adjacent to stores and restaurants.

The housing densities would be among the highest in Clovis and are intended to reduce pressure on farmland. Up to 4,117 residential units can be accommodated on the 272 acres. If built at typical low density, the same number of houses would consume 1,250 acres, city officials say. That saves about 978 acres of farmland from urban uses.

The city will seek a developer for the "community center" project.

Loma Vista will eventually cover more than 3,000 acres from Locan Avenue on the west to McCall Avenue on the east to portions of Bullard and Shaw avenues to the north and to the Gould Canal to the south. Loma Vista will be home to 30,000 residents.

The acreage is now mostly farms and rural homes. The new plan allows for continued farming for as long as the property owner wishes.