CARY - The Town Council has denied a developer's plan to add warehousing, distribution or manufacturing space on a vacant lot near the Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

The culprit: a lack of trees.

A site plan submitted earlier this year by W. Glen Adams, Samual Boyce, T. Ed Bailey and Red Eagle Companies LLC of Raleigh called for a 39,000-square foot building on a 4.5-acre lot at Nelson Road and Aviation Parkway.

The proposal won the support of seven of eight members of Cary's planning and zoning board on Aug. 17.

On Thursday, however, the Town Council rejected the plan in a unanimous vote.

The timing in which Red Eagle's proposal appeared on the council's agenda might have made some difference.

Red Eagle's site plan came up for a vote on the same evening in which council members were set to decide how to move forward with an unrelated plan to have another developer replace trees in the Cameron Pond subdivision along Carpenter Fire Station Road.

For months, Cary has been angling to find an acceptable fix for a problem that left some residents in Cameron Pond staring through gaping holes in their neighborhood's westernmost buffer zone.

The developer, Impact Cameron Pond LLC, illegally granted permission to Progress Energy to cut through large portions of the natural buffer shielding houses from the future Western Wake Expressway in October 2008. The easement, which was granted without the town's knowledge, allowed Progress Energy to install an overhead power transmission line that connects to a substation on the western side of the expressway.

Impact Cameron Pond has since been issued a notice of violation that ordered the developer to submit a plan to replace the trees that were removed. The town approved a revegetation plan on Thursday after months spent seeking compromises between residents and the developer.

The approved plan requires Impact Cameron Pond to plant the new trees by Nov. 15.

Controversy surrounding the Cameron Pond flap might have affected the fate of Red Eagle's project. Several council members acknowledged the timing during a discussion of the Nelson Road plan, which included a request to cut into 100- and 80-foot wide stands of trees.

The buffers would shield the building from view of motorists on Aviation Parkway to the east and a neighboring property owner to the west.

The site plan called for the eastern buffer zone to be reduced to 58 feet at its narrowest point at the northeast corner of the site. Council members said that was unacceptable despite the developer's efforts to redistribute trees to the southeast corner of the site.

"While I'm not pleased about cutting into the buffer, I am pleased they're at least telling us about it beforehand," said Councilman Don Frantz, who initially backed a motion by Jack Smith in favor of the plan.

Frantz noted, however, that "to talk about buffer reduction tonight is almost a sin."

Councilwoman Jennifer Robinson was more pointed in her remarks.

"It worries me that so many entities think that the 100-foot buffer is optional and can be eaten into for convenience," she said. "I'm sorry if this project can't be located here without eating into the buffer, but the buffer is there to shield development from the road."

What the Cameron Pond debacle means for the Red Eagle project is, at best, a return to the drawing board. Under Cary's land development ordinances, the Town Council could have allowed for an exception to rules governing buffer zones to accommodate Red Eagle's request.

Planning board Chairwoman Kelly Comiskey told council members that the law allows for exceptions to the buffer rules under certain circumstances, including drastic topographical changes. Comiskey and Kevin Hales, a senior planner for the town, noted that the Nelson Road site drops 50 feet in elevation from the eastern side of the proposed building to Aviation Parkway.

But Councilman Erv Portman said it was a moot point. "This is vacant land that is available for sale and, under this plan, can't be developed according to our ordinances," he said.

"I don't want to have anything to do with making an exception," Portman added. "I see no reason to compromise on the buffer because the building is bigger than what will fit anyway. We need to send a message that there's a reason laws exist."