Luxury condos at Dockside Restaurant on hold. Here's why Barnstable rejected the proposal.

In a split vote, the Barnstable Planning Board halted a proposal to redevelop the Dockside Restaurant with luxury apartments overlooking Hyannis Harbor, rejecting a regulatory agreement between the town and Shoestring Properties, LLC.

On Monday, members Mary Barry, Michael Mecenas, Tim O'Neill, and Raymond Sexton voted to not recommend the pact to the town, while Chairman Stephen Robichaud, Vice Chairman Robert Twiss, and Steven Costello backed the project.

"At the end of the day, a four-and-a-half story building I do not think would fit in the area and I think it is not a great area to have this in the Hyannis Harbor district where the entire goal of the zoning was to have a lower height to promote the public viewing of the harbor," said O'Neill, before the vote.

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Here's what the Dockside Restaurant housing project was expected to look like.

Developer and property owner Stuart Bornstein wanted to build 29 condominiums in two buildings with associated improvements at 110 School St. and 115 School St. in Hyannis, consisting of 18 3-bedroom units, 11 2-bedroom units, and 70 parking spaces.

The project was originally proposed as a 34-unit development, but the team decided to cut five units − four of which were three-bedroom units.

After the vote, Attorney John Kenney, who represents Shoestring, called himself heartbroken for the village.

"I thought this was the perfect project for the east end of Hyannis and I think it's another missed opportunity in a long list of missed opportunities for downtown Hyannis going all the way back to the 1960s," said Kenney. "I'm very disappointed but I respect your decision."

With each project proposal, Planning Board members need to weigh the pros and cons, said Robichaud, and "affordable housing is very high on that pros list for me and I'm putting a lot of weight behind that."

"There's a housing crisis right now on Cape Cod especially in the town of Barnstable and I'd love to move that needle a little bit," said Robichaud.

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Height of the buildings in front of Hyannis Harbor was a major complaint.

During the public hearing, residents and other town elected officials mostly spoke against the project, citing concerns about the height and saying the board should hold the project or tweak the agreement further.

"I am all for developers as well and business .... but we need to get it right, we need to do it right, and a little more time," said Cheryl Powell.

According to a draft copy of the agreement, the town would have granted a waiver from a zoning ordinance that caps multi-family residential development at 7 units per acre. The requirement will be waived to allow 29 condominiums on about 1.32 acres, an overall density of 22 units per acre.

The town would have also allowed for the buildings to be 4.5 stories, waiving the max building height of 2.5 stories.

Bornstein had also offered to provide, off-site, five 3-bedroom affordable rental units at 310 Barnstable Road, where he wants to develop a total of 30 units. Without the Dockside project, he said that complex would then only have three affordable units, as originally planned.

"The five has taken a lot out of this building. They are larger units and the three-bedrooms, very expensive to build. They all have two bathrooms, larger kitchens," said Bornstein.

Zane Razzaq writes about housing and real estate. Reach her at zrazzaq@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @zanerazz.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Hyannis Harbor condos paused after Barnstable Planning Board rejection