ORLANDO, Fla. -- County commissioners voted to nix the possible development of a protected area in Orange County on Tuesday.

A company wants to develop a large area in east Orange County, and they promised the plan would create thousands of jobs, but critics believe the plan would hurt the environment and destroy the rural way of life in the area.

Orange County Commissioner Bill Segal joined the critics of Rybolt Park, which would have included several new neighborhoods and thousands of new homes.

Developers and commissioners met Tuesday at the county commission headquarters to discuss the plans, but Segal said the county does not need more sprawl in that area east of the Econ River, which has been environmentally protected and known for its beauty.

The original development plan called for a village center on 91 acres, an office or research park on 41 acres, 334 acres of parks and recreation and the remainder of the space would be used for 5,000 homes. According to the plan, 566 of the acres would be preserved for conservation.

Segal, Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty and Commissioner Linda Stewart were vocal against the project prior to the vote.

In the end, six commissioners voted against and killed the proposed project. Only one voted in favor.

Segal said current roads could not support the project.

"There's no transportation out there. Highway 50 is shut down, McCulloch Road can't handle this type of transportation," Segal said.

County planners said the new community would require hundreds of millions of dollars in road work, not including the cost of the planned bridge over the Econ River.

"If they pulled a rabbit out of a hat tonight with a game changer, I would have easily changed my vote, but nothing was new," Segal said.

Commissioners ultimately said they felt there wasn't enough demand for that amount of housing and the roads couldn't support the traffic that would come.

Rybolt officials argued the opposite and said they are disappointed.

"We'll evaluate all options for moving the project forward," said Rybolt spokeswoman Laura Guitar. "We have the option to come back in two years."

If Rybolt decides not to come back in two years, they said they may choose to sell the land, which has been used as a cattle ranch for nearly a century.

Supporters said developing Rybolt Park would bring jobs and make lives easier for UCF commuters.

Many residents in attendance said they were happy the proposed development was axed. In fact, many came to the meeting holding red signs saying, "Stop Rybolt Park."

"We don't want Rybolt Park," said Debbie Parrish, who lives nearby. "It does not belong out there."

Parrish said the plan for 700 houses, 4,000 apartments, and 1 million square feet of office space was not an appealing proposition for many reasons.

"Traffic, the apartments -- transient property owners or renters, actually -- transient renters, parking garages, UCF students coming and going," she said.

Linda Birch also came to the hearing with signs, and said she was worried the development would ruin and pollute the rural lifestyle in the area.

"My biggest problem is probably the handling of the waste water and the handling of the runoff waters," Birch said.

The county commission meeting began 2:30 p.m. Tuesday and continued into the evening.