Objections from neighbors and concerns from the Planning Commission led to a recommendation against the rezoning of a nearly 30-acre property in Gearhart eyed for higher-density housing.

Residents said the property is prone to flooding, unable to handle additional traffic and lacks essential services.

“You want to make your $2.5 million, walk away and leave everybody else with the ramifications,” Mary Chandler, who lives on McCormick Gardens Road, said at Thursday’s meeting.

Planning commissioner Terry Graff echoed the concerns.

“Unless you live out there day to day, you don’t see what’s going on,” Graff said. “The people who live out there live out there for a reason, they like the rural lifestyle. I don’t think they want a development plopped down and disrupting their quality of life.”

Palmberg Paving Inc., the owner, wants to rezone 498 McCormick Gardens Road in advance of a sale.

The change, from rural agricultural to residential, could deliver 10 parcels on 7.5 buildable acres, about 20 percent of the nearly 30-acre site.

Developers would have different options available to them, said Li Alligood, of Otak, a consultant to the owner. “Some might want to do rentals, others single-family homes, others multifamily homes,” she said.

Heidi Palmberg Snidow said she and her family made a “difficult decision” to market the property after owning it for more than 60 years.

The family will not be part of the development process.

“It’s strictly to do a zone change that would have to be reviewed,” Snidow said. “We have lived and worked in this community and are really a part of it. We do feel it’s important to maintain its charm and culture.”

Alligood said she recognizes future development could alter the character of the neighborhood. “We can’t deny that won’t change,” she said. “But it’s a great spot, near the commercial services on Highway 101. You can walk to services, you can walk to downtown from the location.”

Planning commissioners weighed criteria based on the city’s comprehensive plan, community character and local housing needs.

Letters, staff reports and outside analysis provided information on soil, traffic and housing.

So did residents and commissioners.

Affordability is an issue for Virginia Dideum, the chairwoman of the Planning Commission.

There would be no guarantee the homes would be “affordable housing,” Dideum said. “And what is affordable to me is not affordable to someone else.”

McCormick Gardens Road resident Brand Dichter pointed to potential risk in a tsunami or earthquake, including liquefaction.

Current zoning protects the area “much better” than a medium residential zone, Commissioner David Smith said, and will “also protect what little control we have on traffic on Highway 101.”

Rebecca Rutledge, who lives on McCormick Gardens Road, said she understands the need for housing, but asked for consideration of poor drainage and flooding on the property.

Jack Zimmerman, a City Council candidate, sought to determine the “extent of contamination” on the property from previous uses.

The state Department of Environmental Quality deemed all lots “safe for residential,” Alligood said. “There may be contamination, but that level is low enough that it won’t affect occupancy.”

Dideum also asked for an updated Department of Environmental Quality report — the submitted document is dated 2006. Drainage, she said, “only gets worse.”

“Mucky peat,” described in a soil report on the site, oozes water all the time, she added. “You cannot build on it,” she said.

The property would be “overexcavated” to replace topsoil with new fill, Alligood responded.

“The site is indeed safe for residential development,” she said. “The question is the level of development and the types of development.”

The Planning Commission unanimously recommended a denial of the rezoning request.

The property owners will have a second shot at approval at the City Council on Nov. 7.