The Burlington City Council late Monday voted in favor of keeping a controversial traffic reconfiguration on North Avenue.

A meeting drew a crowd to City Hall as residents voiced opinions and listed to debate well into the night. At stake: whether a year-long pilot project re-configuring the lanes on North Avenue would be permanent.

The project changed North Avenue from four lanes to two travel lanes, a turning lane and bicycle lanes on either side. Councilor Max Tracy introduced a resolution to make the changes permanent, citing safety.

In the end, the council voted 10-2 in favor of the changes. Councilors Kurt Wright of Ward 4 and David Hartnett of the North District cast the dissenting votes shortly before 11 p.m.

The pilot project was intended to make North Avenue, a major thoroughfare running through the New North End and ending in downtown Burlington, safer for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.

Residents packed Contois Auditorium, some holding handmade signs reading "Let Us Vote." Others held signs supporting the reconfiguration.

More than two dozen people addressed the council during a public forum that stretched longer than an hour.

Although the pilot project was intended to determine whether the reconfiguration would make the road safer without substantially increasing travel times, speakers raised issues during Monday night's public forum that went deeper than safety. They discussed the role of public input, who belongs on the road, and the changing nature of the New North End.

Some outspoken opponents of the project, including Karen Rowell, have raised concerns about the city's handling of the process.

"Why do they give us the illusion of choice?" she said during her comments. She said she wanted the opportunity for another vote.

"We've certainly heard a lot of concerns about process," said Councilor Sara Moore, who co-sponsored Tracy's resolution. She said the council had heard concerns about process not only for the pilot but for other projects as well.

Wright introduced an amendment to the resolution supporting the pilot to place the item on the March ballot. While the city charter would make it mandatory to appear on the ballot citywide, Wright included language in his amendment that said the point of the vote was to determine whether there was "sufficient support" from the New North End for the pilot.

Wright's amendment failed.

Former councilor Tom Ayres made the trip from Randolph to speak at the public forum. He slammed language in a 2014 amendment to a resolution establishing the North Avenue corridor study that he said led to the idea that the New North End would get veto power over the pilot project.

"That’s not the way we govern responsibly," he said, calling his vote for the amendment the worst vote he'd cast.

During the forum, a resident of the New North End who recently had bought a home in the area said he thought the issue went deeper than bike lanes.

"Times are changing in the New North End," Jim Carrier said. "This isn't about bicycles; it's about change."

City officials said data collected by the police department showed the reconfiguration was succeeding. Burlington police data analyst Eric Fowler released a report showing that crashes were down overall, including injury-causing crashes. The only crashes that were up, according to Fowler's report, were rear-end crashes that resulted in no injuries.

At a New North End community meeting last week, Burlington police Chief Brandon del Pozo said the numbers were too small to be statistically significant, but encouraging.

Contact Jess Aloe at 802-660-1874 or jaloe@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @jess_aloe