AMHERST — Both mixed-use and apartment-style developments will be allowed along a half-mile section of University Drive, under a new zoning overlay district.

The Town Council Monday voted 11-1 to support the “University Drive Overlay District,” which will mean that denser residential projects on the road that connects Amity Street to Route 9 within walking distance of the University of Massachusetts campus, are possible.

Senior Planner Nate Malloy said the parcels south of University Drive will require 100% of the ground floor to be non-residential space, with only a small portion being incidental to the residential uses, while other sections of the road will allow more flexibility in future residential developments.

The underlying office park and limited business zoning remain intact, even as provisions are in place to allow new residential buildings to rise to six stories.

Keeping the ground floor entirely commercial protects against losing a main shopping plaza, anchored by Big Y Supermarket, which extends into Hadley, and a CVS Pharmacy, as well as losing the Mass General Brigham medical offices on the opposite side of the street.

Even with the protections, though, District 5 Councilor Bob Hegner said he is worried, referencing an email sent to the Town Council by Gus Johnson, a representative of plaza owner Crosspoint Associates, indicating that Big Y plaza is not protected and that the overlay district could be seen as an opportunity to bring a mixed-use project to the site.

Should a new development be proposed, there would still need to be sufficient parking for the existing commercial tenants and any new residential tenants.

The remaining councilors, aside from District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen, who was absent, didn’t agreed that Johnson’s email was problematic.

District 2 Councilor Pat De Angels said Big Y has a 20-year lease, and the overlay district “is really is not endangering Big Y, which is a critical food source for people in our town.”

“I wouldn’t vote for it if it were,” DeAngelis said.

At-Large Councilor Andy Steinberg said he wouldn’t read too much into the email and that worries are overblown.

Whether the overlay district will lead to development is unknown. The street is made up of commercial plazas, but also includes the Center for Extended Care nursing home and The Arbors assisted living complex, and Seventy University drive luxury apartments developed by the The Roberts Group.

The Roberts Group is about the break ground on building another 77 units, with 224 beds, and 12,200 square feet of commercial space on the ground level, at the corner of Amity Street and University Drive.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.