For the five-member commission, the issue turned less on problems with building setbacks, materials and noise than on gut feelings.

"I don't feel compelled to be very positive about it," said commission Chairman Michael Fitzpatrick. "It has a heavy hand and seems intrusive."

Neighbors in the Marburn subdivision, just north of the McConnell Heart Health Center, argued that the building and parking lot wouldn't fit in with their homes and might spawn a series of similar developments along the residential stretch of Olentangy River Road.

The 3.1-acre property has a Depression-era home owned by a physician who has been unable to sell it.

David B. Perry, representing developer Wexford Holdings, said the project would have protected the nearby Turkey Run watershed, been invisible to Marburn residents and created little noise, traffic or bother for neighbors.

Perry said he was "aghast" at the factual errors and opinions posed by those opposing the project.

About 70 residents, wearing blue T-shirts with the Marburn logo below a stand of trees, cheered the board's decision.

The five commission members surprised the group by agreeing that the project was unsuitable.

Increasingly, cities have sought development to boost their income-tax revenue, discouraging neighborhood groups who say their rights are being ignored.

Fitzpatrick, who said the commission tries to be supportive of development, tabled the issue, giving the developer an option to come back with an alternative plan.

Commission members objected to tabling it.

"I'm concerned about misleading the applicant by saying, 'Go back and rework this,'  " said commission member Marty Anderson.

"I do not think this is a fit, and I do not think there is a way to make it a fit," John Cooley said.

The tabling was a courtesy to the developer, Fitzpatrick said.

dnarciso@dispatch.com