HARMONY — A proposed housing plan won a major victory Tuesday night when borough council voted to approve its final land development.

Council voted 5 to 2 to approve Creekside Manor, with councilmen Dave Szakelyhidi and Frank Luek voting against it.

The move followed more than an hour of acrimonious debate with representatives of the developer and consultants, as well as a failed motion to deny the plan made by Luek and supported by Szakelyhidi.

The borough in 2004 granted preliminary approval of the plan, which is mostly in Jackson Township across the Connoquenessing Creek from Main Street in Harmony.

Composed of 439 townhouses and apartments on 38.5 acres, the project includes just eight apartment buildings and six covered garages on about eight acres in Harmony, said attorney Robert Blumling, representing developer TCDR Associates.

Last month developers presented revisions to the planning commission which reoriented three buildings, making the plan more aesthetic, said Gary Sheffler, land surveyor with PVE Sheffler.

The planning commission recommended rejecting the plan for lack of permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection and other agencies, a final impact report from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a traffic study that neglected to gauge impact on the borough.

Luek said the motion to deny was based on faulty engineering.

He said engineers measured the creek as 10 feet deep, but he said it is shallower.

Construction would interfere with the 100-year flood plain more than engineers indicated, which could cause Main Street in the borough to flood more than it would otherwise, he said.

Both banks of the creek are under the 100-year flood high water mark.

"I think the plan compromises the safety, health and welfare of residents of the borough," Luek said.

Blumling said the 10-foot assessment was correct and an independent engineering firm hired by the borough agreed.

"We're not going to stand here and have our engineers, who your engineers agreed with, called liars," he said.

Councilman Gary Habsburg said residents' biggest concerns are to mitigate the experiences of the remnants of Hurricane Ivan, which put much of Harmony under water in 2004. "I'm not seeing that you're doing anything to solve problems in the future," Habsburg said.

Andrew Banfield, project manager with PVE Sheffler, said an embankment constructed between the creek and the plan would eliminate additional flooding under the 100-year flood plan.

"The borough will still be flooded," Banfield said. "But this plan won't make it any worse."

Szakelyhidi questioned the future of wetlands on the property but was told that was a federal issue.

Banfield said an existing water detention pond contained wetland vegetation, but could not officially be considered a wetland unless soils were tested.