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Citizens warned of  the dangerous traffic side effects of a proposed apartment development Monday at the Town of Elon’s Board of Aldermen monthly meeting.

The property would include 240 apartment units and 620 parking spaces and would have entrances on Cook Road Extension and University Drive, the road where Elon chemistry professor Eugene Gooch was killed riding his bike April 3.

The board held a public hearing Monday night for a special-use permit by Blue Ridge Development Company to build the complex within Elon’s town limits. Part of the property is also on Gibsonville’s town limits.

The buildings in the development, Legacy at Elon, will be made of brick veneer with vinyl and will be three stories tall. The plans feature two stormwater cleaning ponds.

Attorney Lawson Brown led the hearing for the developer. His four witnesses -- engineer Charles Truby, Blue Ridge employee Jim Gerdich, appraiser Laura Rich and engineer Terry Snow -- all testified that the proposed development met the requirements of the Town of Elon’s Land Development Ordinance.

Several citizens and Gibsonville representatives, however, disagreed. Phil Thompson, a Gibsonville resident whose property is about 500 feet from the proposed site, said he does not think three-story apartment buildings are visually or functionally compatible with the surrounding area. He also said he was concerned with the development’s density and with the property value of his house.

Gibsonville Town Manager Ben Baxley said he would like the Town of Elon and Gibsonville to form an inter-local governmental agreement before the special-use permit is granted.

“It seems like it would be beneficial for both municipalities involved to understand what each is expecting of the other,” Baxley said.

Gibsonville Planning Board Chairwoman Kathy King said she and the Gibsonville mayor were not aware the hearing was coming up and were not prepared.

“We have not been included as a full and equal partner in this process,” King said.

She said the Gibsonville government has strong reservations about the development and that many of Gibsonville’s residents want to maintain its small-town atmosphere.

“If you’re asking Gibsonville to agree to this project, then we have to be an equal party,” King said. She asked the board to postpone its decision and allow Gibsonville citizens and representatives to discuss the matter with the Town of Elon.

Jill Gauthier, who owns two pieces of property near the proposed site, said the University Drive-Manning Avenue intersection is dangerous and adding more traffic to it would only increase the public safety hazard.

She mentioned the recent fatal accident and said building this development would add to traffic on the road where he was killed.

Elon biology professor Jeffrey Coker also brought up traffic safety. He said many of the complex’s residents would likely be college students who might ride bikes or walk to campus.

Coker said that Haggard Avenue’s east-west orientation makes it even more dangerous for traffic, because the sun’s rising and setting makes visibility the worst at times when traffic is heaviest.

Brown shared a timeline of completed actions, suggesting Gibsonville has been aware of the process. He said the non-expert opinions of citizens were not as valid in the hearing’s quasi-judicial setting.

Town Manager Mike Dula said he did not know how the Town of Elon could have been more clear with Gibsonville.

“I think we’ve done as much as possible to include them,” Dula said.

The Board of Aldermen voted to postpone a decision on the special-permit request and re-visit the issue at the April 14 voting meeting.