Waterloo city council gave the green light to a developer on Monday to go ahead with plans for a controversial condo building in uptown Waterloo.

The city councillors agreed to waive zoning bylaws to allow Auburn Developments to construct a 14-storey building at 31 Alexandra Ave., near Caroline Street.

The building was first proposed in 2003 and has undergone several modifications before finally being approved on Monday — disappointing some area residents.

"When you get a development like this, which plays its incremental role in increasing traffic burden and in frustrating traffic flows in certain strategic areas, you're raising a problem that extends very much further out than the immediate neighbourhood," said Robert Lang, who lives in uptown Waterloo.

The building will contain 152 units, with townhouses at the street level facing Alexandra Avenue and William Street. It will also include 1.5 levels of underground parking and a three-storey parking podium totalling about 228 available spaces in the development.