OAKLAND (BCN) — The Oakland City Council has delayed for a second time a vote on the proposed sale of a city-owned parcel of land near Lake Merritt for a new high-rise apartment complex.

The delay, which postpones the matter until the council’s meeting on June 16, came after Councilman Dan Kalb and Councilwoman Desley Brooks abstained and Councilman Noel Gallo voted against the project late Tuesday night.

Nearly 100 people, most of whom are against the proposal to build 298 units on a one-acre city parcel at the corner of East 12th Street and Second Avenue, spoke at the meeting.

Councilman Abel Guillen, whose district includes the land parcel, said in an email, “Technically yes, the item was postponed, but I don’t expect the development proposal as currently configured to go forward.”

The proposal calls for the parcel to be sold to UrbanCore Development LLC, for the construction of a 24-story apartment tower with about 2,000 square feet of ground-level retail space.

The City Council originally was scheduled to vote on the matter on May 5 but protesters shut down the meeting and prevented a vote.

Guillen then negotiated with the developer, which agreed to include 30 units of affordable housing in the building.

Guillen also negotiated for $1 million of the anticipated $5 million sale price to go to the city’s affordable housing fund to build more units elsewhere in the city and an additional $700,000 worth of community benefits, including a skate park, graffiti abatement, tree planting and youth programs at Children’s Fairyland.

Monica Garcia of Eastlake United for Justice, a group of residents who live near the site of the proposed project, said today that they oppose the project because rents for a one-bedroom unit could reach $3,150 a month, well beyond the reach of most area residents.

Garcia said there are also questions about whether the city complied with the state’s Surplus Lands Act, which she said requires cities to first offer public land to affordable housing developers before offering it to private developers such as UrbanCore Development.

“The public’s land needs to serve the public good,” Garcia said. It’s unclear what will happen when the proposal comes before the City Council again in two weeks but opponents hope the city will start the process over again by offering the land to affordable housing developers, she said.

If the council approves the project in its current form, “the city is potentially opening itself up to litigation,” Garcia said.