MOUNT VERNON — The City Council unanimously rejected Wednesday a plan to put affordable senior apartments in a neighborhood of single-family homes.

The proposal before the council would have rezoned two single-family residential lots near Hillcrest Park to allow for greater density. Neighbor of the site and city staff testified against the plan last week, saying it would not blend well with the surrounding area, which is largely single-family residential.

“Our position is that this is a single-family neighborhood,” Community and Economic Development Director Jana Hanson said in an interview following Wednesday’s decision.

She said the project proponent, Skagit Council Housing, could have found another parcel within the city that is already zoned for apartments.

But Skagit Council Housing, a nonprofit that provides housing to the elderly, has argued that it could not find land that was near amenities, already zoned multifamily residential and under $1 million.

Last week Jim VanderMay, the organization’s president, said the two single-family lots near Hillcrest Park came the closest. So the organization purchased them hoping that the city would rezone them to allow for higher density development.

Skagit Council Housing first applied last year for a rezone of the property from R-1, single-family residential, to R-4, multifamily residential. That request was put off for a year, and the Planning Commission recommended that the City Council do the same for yet another year.

But on Wednesday, City Council members gave their decision quickly saying that they had faith that Skagit Council Housing’s development would have been a good one but that they had to consider all development scenarios before granting a rezone request, not just the best case one.