Property owners hoping to expand their single-family homes into multi-unit structures in some sections of Quincy will have to put their plans on hold.

City leaders recently approved a one-year moratorium on multi-unit developments in neighborhoods zoned Residence B where they had previously been permitted by right.

The temporary ban is bad news for sellers and real estate agents who were hoping to get top dollar for properties that could have been converted into multi-unit condo or rental properties. It also has created a roadblock for a few owners who already had taken steps to turn their properties into multi-unit residences.

The City Council voted in support of the freeze earlier this month in response to concerns by residents who were worried about the changing character of their residential neighborhoods because too many single-family homes were being replaced with large multi-unit structures. Supporters of the measure say the moratorium will give city leaders a chance to evaluate zoning and come up with a plan to preserve neighborhoods.

“The intent, from my perspective, was for the city to take a deep breath and to step back and look at the city’s zoning comprehensively,” said City Councilor Kevin Coughlin, who represents Quincy’s Ward 3.

Coughlin said the city hasn’t taken a close look at its zoning since 1971. “A lot has changed. The market has changed and the composition and character of the city has changed a lot in the last 36 years.”

But Councilor at Large Joe Finn, one of two city councilors who voted against the measure, said the moratorium is too broad and doesn’t exempt property owners who already had gone through a community process or sought approval from city boards. “They cannot proceed with their projects,” he said.

Finn, who is also executive director of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, introduced an amendment last Tuesday to exempt those property owners but it was rejected by the council.

“It’s not just about people coming in and cramming condominiums into residential neighborhoods,” said Finn. He noted that a homeowner who attended a recent council hearing spoke about her plans to convert one floor of her three-level two-family home into a rental unit for extra income but now can’t do so.

Finn also emphasized that the moratorium doesn’t address the problem of Residence B-zoned areas and there is currently no plan to do so. In Residence B districts, both single-family and multi-unit structures are allowed.

“I think they have to look very carefully what they allow in Residence B,” he said.

‘Everyone’s Interest’
Coughlin said he doesn’t think anyone would disagree that there is a need for planning. But he added that there is also a need to help residents who are being affected by the construction of multi-unit structures.

He cited a five-unit townhouse development that is currently under construction on a parcel on Beale Street that previously had a single-family home. In the past week, Coughlin noted, he has received phone calls from at least five neighbors who have had flooding and other water problems in their basements, which he said is being caused from water runoff at the construction site.

“This is the type of thing that people don’t realize until it’s in your backyard,” he said. “If you live it, you understand it Â… I think we need to look out for everyone’s interest.”

Art Foley, broker-owner of Century 21 Annex Realty in Quincy, said the one-year moratorium sends a negative message to developers who are thinking of investing in Quincy, and is unfair to property owners who have been paying taxes on parcels that have been zoned for multifamily uses.

Foley also said the measure undermines Quincy’s goal of increasing affordable housing in the city because it attempts to constrain supply.

“On the one hand they say affordable housing is needed, and on the other hand they do the very thing that’s not going to allow that to happen,” he said.

The temporary ban means that some for-sale properties won’t be able to fetch the highest price.

Duhallow Real Estate in Quincy has a two-family home on Beale Street listed for $599,000. Because the property sits on a generous-sized parcel, it could have been expanded into a three- or four-unit building, and could have sold for a higher price.

“But now with this [moratorium] it’s only worth” what a two-family home would sell for, according to Jim McAuliffe, a broker with Duhallow Real Estate.

McAuliffe acknowledged, however, that the moratorium has an upside: preventing the construction of multi-unit structures in neighborhoods where they clearly don’t fit in.

Bay State homebuilders generally have been opposed to building moratoriums and restrictions. They argue that such initiatives have hurt housing production and helped push up home prices in Massachusetts in recent years.

“Our view is that if there’s a defined problem that needs to be solved within a specific timeframe, then a community should be able to do so,” said Mark H. Leff, president-elect of the Home Builders Association of Massachusetts. “However, what we don’t consider appropriate is these indefinite growth caps, which are renewed on annual basis.”

But Leff said unlike other Bay State communities that have imposed growth caps and building bans, Quincy and other cities such as Malden, Medford and Revere have done a lot to increase the housing supply.

“This is a little different situation. I think they have a specific issue here that the city needs to address and it sounds like they’re going to take steps to address this,” he said.