Warren-Yazoo Mental Health Service can build a 17-unit Wisconsin Avenue apartment complex with fewer parking spaces than specified by zoning regulations, Vicksburg officials decided Tuesday.

The request has been pending since a Jan. 9 zoning board meeting, where a 3-2 vote by board members was not enough to approve Warren-Yazoo’s request for an exception. The zoning board, a lay group, has seven members, with votes of at least four required for passage of a measure. Appeals are to the mayor and aldermen.

&#8220I have received a lot of phone calls about this,” Mayor Laurence Leyens said Tuesday. &#8220We are obligated to follow the law, and the request was reasonable. There’s nothing we can do. It’s not appropriate to deny the variance.”

Warren-Yazoo plans to use a $1.23 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the residential area for transitional clients.

Plans show 22 parking spaces instead of the two-per-unit 34 that would be the minimum under zoning standards. Representatives from the mental health organization have said the 22 parking spaces will suffice because most tenants will live alone and many do not have vehicles.

Joe Strickland, a surveyor who said he lived nearby, spoke in opposition at the January hearing. He said the waiver would set a negative precedent for any property left on Wisconsin Avenue, which is home to other buildings owned by Warren-Yazoo, including its main campus at 3444 Wisconsin Ave.

City officials said the variance would not include permission to park on a public street.