More than 100 people marched on Austin City Hall Thursday afternoon ahead of an Austin City Council meeting that was expected to take up a controversial development in North Austin.

KVUE News

Hundreds of people against a Wal-Mart at Northcross Mall marched on Austin City Hall Thursday.

Developers of Northcross Mall at Burnet Road and Anderson Lane had announced that Wal-Mart would build a store at the site, but hundreds of residents in surrounding neighborhoods have spoken out against the plan. Many are concerned about traffic the big-box retailer would bring to the area.

They took a petition with more than 3,500 signatures to Austin City Council earlier this week and organized Thursday's march. The protestors shouted "No Deal" and "We Vote" outside of City Hall before ending the protest.

"A 24-hour supercenter larger than Cabella's does not belong in that area," said Hope Morrison, vice president of Responsible Growth for Northcross. "Our streets cannot handle the traffic, our property values are going to go down and our quality of life is going to suffer."

Council members will address the issue at a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. They were expected to talk about the possibility of stopping the development altogether because of an omission in a city memo that was sent to Northcross neighbors, including residents in Allandale, Rosedale, Crestview and Brentwood. The argument is that the city failed to properly notify neighboring residents of the proposed project.

Council members told KVUE News Thursday they want answers about the neighbors' traffic concerns. But they said Wal-Mart has refused to negotiate the size of the store or hours of operation.

"They're taking a pretty hard line a the moment, and I think that's a mistake because they have an opportunity to do a great redevelopment, that would be very popular with the neighborhood, that would add a lot to the city and North Austin," said Brewster McCracken, Austin City Councilmember. "But right now their highway-style, supercenter development is just going to bring traffic and it's just not up to the caliber it could be."

McCracken said the development could be stopped if it turns out Wal-Mart submitted falty traffic estimates.

"We've been told that if the traffic numbers are a lot higher than what was presented, that could be grounds for revoking the site plan, because the roads can't handle it," he said. "We've actually gone out and done real world traffic counts for three Wal-Marts in Austin. And the the actual traffic counts are coming in 150 percent higher than what Wal-Mart and Lincoln presented to the city."

Wednesday, city officials announced that Wal-Mart voluntarily suspended any plans for 60 days, including permitting, so it could answer any questions and confer with neighborhood representatives. Lincoln-Northcross, Ltd. joined Wal-Mart in their pledge to suspend development activities, city officials said Thursday in a news release.

"Several members of Council have been talking regularly with Lincoln properties and Wal-Mart over the last few days. This confirmation from Lincoln Properties today with allow for greater input from neighborhood residents," said Lee Leffingwell, council member.

Northcross Mall developers had presented the Wal-Mart plan as a way to revitalize the mall, which has been struggling for many years. The planned Wal-Mart was called an urban store, with 180,000 square feet, two stories and a three-story parking garage.