A proposed housing project that drew pushback from nearby residents and Fairmont School District 89 received unanimous support from the Lockport City Council Wednesday night.

The council approved Serenity Landing, a 183.68-acre mixed-use housing development comprising 212 detached single-family homes, 181 townhomes in multi-unit buildings, an apartment complex of 240 units, and a 1.78-acre commercial site near the apartments.

The development will be located between Briggs Street, Farrell Road, Bruce Road and Oak Street.

The plan also includes 80.28 acres of open space, including a 5.28-acre public park, multiple retention basins and a bike path.

The new development would include seven access points to surrounding roads. This acreage represents about 43% of the site and is the largest open space designation of any residential development in Lockport.

The site had been considered for development three other times in the past, as Fox Hollow in 2007, Hidden Lakes in 2011 and Serenity Landing in 2021.

The new Serenity Landing project received full support of the city council on Wednesday, with one minor adjustment to the zoning.

At the suggestion of Alderwoman Susan King, the zoning for the portion of the project known as “Unit 2,″ which is located at the corner of Briggs and Oak and includes the planned apartment buildings, will be changed from R-4 residential to C2-T zoning.

This is a mixed-use designation, which would still allow for the construction of apartments, but would also permit the building of more commercial properties or townhomes, depending on market demand at the time.

“There may not be a demand for more apartments by the time they’re building there, and there are no commercial spaces available in that area,” King said, explaining the change request. “It’s kind of a food desert. This could create an opportunity for new residents to shop close to their homes and it could reduce the total number of units in the development, which could reduce the number of new students for the school district and take that pressure off them.”

Under the new zoning, the space could be used for retail locations, restaurants or “service-oriented businesses,” potentially including medical offices or salons.

This potential reduction in total living units being added to the area did not appease current residents, though, who came to speak once again Wednesday, after first appearing at the Dec. 3 Committee of the Whole meeting.

Several residents who own larger properties and keep horses in the neighborhood expressed concern that the increased density and traffic, as well as the noise and pollution created by ongoing construction, will have adverse health effects on their animals.

They said it could ruin the “equestrian character” of the neighborhood, which reportedly is home to 800 horses.

Dr. Bridgette Peal, a veterinarian and equine surgeon who grew up in Lockport and practices at Premiere Equine Veterinary Services on Bruce Road, criticized what she called a “lack of inclusion of the horse community” in the decision-making process around the development.

She was joined in her objections by four horse-owning residents, including Sue Ann Perkins, who owns a horse farm at the corner of Briggs and Oak Avenue.

Perkins said that despite the group’s repeated protests of the development, “it doesn’t seem to matter” to the city, and proposed a form of protest she said she is considering: populating her property with pigs.

“One thing that’s come to our attention is we could all change our farms to pig farms, and surround everything you want to build with pig farms,” Perkins said. “Pigs are intelligent, they’re smart, they can walk through the roads. That gives us another option. If you’re going to injure the horses, pigs are a lot more tolerant.”

Despite her apparent threat to make the new development less desirable, Mayor Steven Streit encouraged her to follow through.

“You’re correct,” he said. “It’s your property. You can put pigs there. We aren’t going to tell you you can’t.”

To the other residents, Streit reiterated comments he made to Shaw Local on Dec. 3.

“We’ve been talking about this for 18 years,” he said. “You could have bought the property at any time to use for horses. We would have considered that, but you never did. You just complained against any development.”

In addition to the equestrians, Fairmont School District 89 Board President Ken Shepherd spoke to the district’s concerns about the development.

The district had “not been given much input” in discussions with the builder, and requested that the city require the builder pay transition fees as well as impact fees for the school district to help absorb the initial costs of new students, he said.

The fees would help the district before it begins receiving the estimated $2.5 million annually in property taxes the completed development could generate, Shepherd said.

The City Council did not agree to include that as a condition of the development approval, but said it would continue discussions with the district.