Opponents of a major retail and residential development proposed for Bestgate Road held a rally to make their case at the Arundel Center in Annapolis last night.

About 100 people - some holding signs that read "Stop the Village at Bestgate" with the V crossed out and a P inserted in its place - gathered to show their opposition to the project, which has been stymied by a long-running zoning debate.

After the group's spokesman, John Flood of Annapolis, testified before the Anne Arundel County Council, the gathering moved outside to the front steps of the government center.

Speaking before the crowd, Flood said that the project proposed by Sturbridge Homes of Annapolis and Erwin L. Greenberg & Associates of Baltimore - which calls for 120,000 square feet of retail space, 65,000 square feet of office space and 224 condominiums - would "make a mockery" of the county's plan to rebuild the nearby Parole area.

"This project would sap away the economic vitality of the area," said Flood, a member of the Parole Growth Management Committee, which has been working for years to create a commercial and residential hub with the shuttered Parole Plaza at its heart.

Two weeks ago, almost 100 proponents of the Bestgate development orchestrated their own council rally. At the time, John S. Pantelides, senior vice president of Greenberg & Associates, told elected officials that the Annapolis area was in dire need of affordable housing such as the condominiums proposed by Sturbridge.

Pantelides and his partners had pushed County Executive Janet S. Owens to introduce zoning legislation key to the 54-acre project at the council meeting last night. They had said that if she didn't, they would have to build housing in order to move the project along.

Pantelides, of Annapolis, said last night he was disappointed that the administration didn't introduce the zoning legislation.