Council voted down Mathieu Fleury's motion to repeal the zoning amendment for the Salvation Army mega-shelter at City Council, Wednesday.

It was a close vote, but council decided 12-10 not to go through with councillor of Rideau-Vanier Mathieu Fleury's motion to halt the Salvation Army shelter project, proposed to be built on Montreal Road.

Councillor Fleury was asking city representatives to reject the zoning amendment, approved by the previous council, on a basis that the organization lied about owning the land.

At city council on Wednesday, Mayor Jim Watson quoted the Salvation Army, who spoke back in November on the matter.

"'I confirm that we do not own the site, but we do have a firm conditional offer in place.' That is the crux of the argument that the councillor is bringing forward, that council did not know that the Salvation Army did not own the property. That is fundamentally untrue," said the mayor.

The Salvation Army brought forward an update to it's proposal that include reducing the number of emergency shelter beds to a range of 70 to 100, and keeping addiction treatment services at its current George Street location. At the same time, it reaffirmed its commitment to 60 special care medical beds, supported by Ottawa Inner City Health.

Many SOS Vanier members called this a stunt, and don't think the organization will go through with this plan.

"I went to a meeting on Monday -- I felt ambushed. I felt like they have a big [public relations] machine working hard," Drew Dobson, SOS Vanier Founder told 1310 NEWS'. "I almost feel like, as long as they get to where they are going, they really don't care how they get there."

SOS Vanier said it will continue to fight the development with hearings planned in the fall for the Ontario Municipal Board. It also looks to appeal the approval to the provinces Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.