McALLEN — City leaders here have temporarily put a halt to plans that would see a beloved park converted into a commercial development.

During a McAllen City Commission meeting Tuesday, officials withdrew their request to rezone the McAllen Disc Golf Course — formerly known as Green Jay Park — from agricultural to light industrial use ahead of plans by an as-yet unnamed developer to build on a portion of the 90-acre park.

McAllen City Manager Roel “Roy” Rodriguez said public protest prompted the city to take a step back on the plans in order to provide better transparency — even though such transparency isn’t strictly required.

“If you want to rezone your property, you don’t have to tell me what you’re gonna build there,” Rodriguez said.

But the park isn’t privately owned, the city owns it, and, as such, it is the city that filed the rezoning application.

“The fact that, in this case, we own the property, we feel compelled to provide the public information and that’s why we withdrew it,” Rodriguez said.

McAllen is currently in the process of negotiating with a developer to change the face of the land at the park. Rodriguez said if the deal is successful, then the park will be “conveyed” to that developer.

But that isn’t sitting well with some residents, who fear the city wants to take away one of the few places in McAllen that still contains old growth forest.

“It’s a beautiful area that will be completely demolished and decimated,” McAllen resident Victoria Guerra said.

Guerra is one of several residents who have spoken out against the project since the issue first began gaining traction on social media in recent weeks.

She and another woman attended Tuesday’s meeting in the hopes of sharing their thoughts with the commission, but were told that since the proposal had been withdrawn, they could not speak on the matter.

The park is located in a flood zone designated as a FEMA “Special Flood Zone Hazard Area,” or SFHA, according to documents provided as part of the rezoning request.

That designation means any developer would have to make certain concessions in order to build in compliance with the city’s flood plain ordinance.

And that’s precisely what has Guerra concerned.

Guerra worries that increasing the site’s elevation to reduce the flood…