The Reno City Council on Wednesday put an end to a year-long effort to allow homeowners to build "granny flats" on their properties after an affluent historic neighborhood mobilized to oppose it.

Last year, the council asked staff to pursue a law change that would allow for accessory dwelling units, commonly called granny flats, in most Reno neighborhoods as one way to attack the housing crisis gripping the city.

After more than a year of community outreach, including citizen surveys, neighborhood meetings and public hearings, staff put forward a draft ordinance that would allow such flats to be built on single family lots larger than 9,000 feet with some restrictions.

But residents in old southwest Reno neighborhoods, including the historic Newlands Heights community, filled council chambers to oppose the ordinance change.

Some saw it as a "tricky maneuver" to increase density in existing neighborhoods, usurping zoning that homeowners relied on when they purchased their homes. They worried allowing such small homes would hurt the historic character of their neighborhood and introduce more crime and traffic problems.

"This so called ADU amendment is a blatant attempt to unilaterally undermine and completely change these long standing rules by way of a tricky legal maneuver," said southwest Reno resident Bill Lindsey. "It's a violation of the public trust, simply put."

Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve was the first on the council to speak out against such flats, saying those trying to address the housing affordability crisis would be kidding themselves to think accessory dwelling units would fix Reno's housing problem.

"There's been this notion that this will solve the affordable housing crisis," Schieve said. "I just don't believe that. I really don't."

It would be expensive to build such units, which would make it difficult for homeowners to rent them out at an affordable rate, she said.

But Councilwoman Jenny Brekhus and other public speakers argued allowing such flats is simply one measure in a multi-faceted approach to addressing the crisis by increasing inventory in the so-called "missing middle," a class of alternative housing at prices attainable by those making the area's median income or more.

"This tool is a solution and if we take a pass on it, we've taken a pass on a best practice on addressing the issue and maybe taking a pass on some bold leadership," Brekhus said.

Brekhus tried to keep the issue alive by making a motion that staff come back to the council with more data. Her attempt was roundly defeated by the rest of the council after Councilwoman Bonnie Weber and Councilman David Bobzien said it was time to close the door on the current effort and start fresh.

"As attractive as the policy idea is to me as something that is innovative...at the end of the day it is an intensification of neighborhoods and that is something we should take a lot of care with," Bobzien said. "For this chapter, this chapter closes and it closes here today."