MISSION — A proposed housing development on Indian tribal land is on hold, after two sets of ancestral remains were discovered on the site.

Members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation voted Tuesday to stop construction on the Wyit View housing subdivision. Of the 398 tribal members who voted in the special election, 217 voted to halt the project while 181 said they wanted the project to continue.

The "no" vote means the project will be abandoned, which will cost the Tribes an estimated $1.37 million, including repayment of about $1 million in federal grant funds.

The tribes' Board of Trustees had initially supported the subdivision as a way to provide housing while promoting homeownership.

When two sets of ancestral human remains were unearthed during construction, the project was halted and redesigned in accordance with the tribes' own procedural guidelines.

But some tribal members voiced concerns about whether the project should continue at all after the remains were found.

"We need to protect the land that contains the bones of our ancestors," a group of 15 individuals wrote in the Confederated Umatilla Journal. "Our belief system — the very thing that has kept us united through all aspects of adversity — should not be lost at the expense of money."

The site for Wyit View was selected in 2001 as the most viable of eight tribally owned sites for the subdivision due to its proximity to water and sewer lines and cultural resources.

Following a lengthy approval process and testing for human remains with ground-penetrating radar, construction began in September 2003.

The remains were uncovered last Oct. 24 and construction was immediately halted. They were reburied Nov. 14 with the original soil after no lineal descendants claimed the remains.