Residents cheered as councillors put off a decision on controversial plans for a new business park.
More than 100 protesters crowded into the public gallery at Hove Town Hall last.
They object to a scheme for an office and housing development on the site of the old Alliance and Leicester building at Hove Park.
Most councillors said they were in favour in principle but had doubts about the size of the development and the traffic implications.
Geoff Pollard, of the North East Hove Park Residents' Association, said after the meeting: "We are not opposed to development of the site, just the overdevelopment envisaged with this scheme."
But Labour councillor Jack Hazelgrove welcomed the housing in the scheme and read extracts from yesterday's Argus about the housing crisis.
He said: "This development is good news and we do need the office space. We do not want to let down people looking for homes and jobs."
At the end of an hour-long debate, planning committee chairman Roy Pennington said councillors wanted more information about traffic problems and the siting of the office blocks.
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