Greenville City Council for a second time denied a request to allow commercial development at a Greenville Boulevard and 14th Street lot during its Thursday night meeting.

The council unanimously voted against a request from Ward Holdings LLC to change the city's land use plan map, called the Horizons Plan, to allow commercial development on a 1.5-acre tract on the southeast corner of Greenville Boulevard and 14th Street. The request sought to change the tract's designation from the office/institutional/multifamily category to the commercial category.

Seven people from the nearby Eastwood neighborhood, including Beulah Harrington and three of her nephews, spoke against the request during a public hearing. Harrington's home, a duplex she shared with her late sister, abuts the Ward property, which was cleared of three houses earlier in the spring.

Jim Ward, the company's managing member, and a nearby, neighbor spoke in favor of the request. Petitions for and against the proposal were presented. Councilman Max Joyner Jr. said several Eastwood residents signed both documents.

Ward first asked for the land use change in December and it was voted down by the City Council. Council members changed and Ward made the request again, spending several months talking with neighbors to garner their support.

"I know Mr. Ward has worked hard but unless (there is) more consensus the time isn't right for change," Joyner said prior to the vote.

After the vote, Ward said he'll continue talking with people in the neighborhood. He said he still believes commercial development is the best use for the site and will ultimately preserve the neighborhood's single-family character.

Until then, Ward said he'll seed and plant the property which is currently an empty dirt lot.

Also during the meeting, the council selected a design for locator signs to be used in the community but decided against putting any up in the historic tobacco district.

Mayor Pat Dunn broke a tie vote, joining council members Calvin Mercer, Larry Spell and Mildred Council to approve a system of signs designating specific areas of Greenville.

The vote approved the signs' design and the areas that will be designated: the medical district and downtown.

Joyner and council members Rose Glover and Bryant Kittrell voted against the proposal because it excluded the tobacco district from the designated areas.

The signs are part of a wayfaring system that will be used to direct automotive and foot traffic.

Earlier in the spring, Glover proposed including the city's historic tobacco district in the sign system and creating a sign symbol that reflected the city's heritage as a major tobacco market.

Mercer opposed the idea, saying many in the city thought the tobacco symbol would be inappropriate and would not reflect Greenville's move to be a major center for health care.

The city Redevelopment Commission, which worked with a consultant to develop the sign system, proposed signs that featured the letter "G" with a stylized leaf serving as the letter's bar.

"There is a leaf in there but it's an ambiguous leaf so I think it's a good compromise," Mercer said.