Boston Heights Mayor Bill Goncy said Saturday that a tentative settlement has been reached in a lawsuit brought by a developer seeking to build on the former Boston Hills Country Club property.

Goncy said five Village Council members voted unanimously to approve the settlement during a meeting Friday night, but he declined to comment on details of the deal.

Lawyers representing the village and the developer that filed the lawsuit, Boston Hills Property Investment, must discuss terms of the settlement with Summit County Common Pleas Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove before anything is finalized, Goncy said.

He said discussions to formally approve the settlement could take place in Cosgrove's court as early as Monday.

The developer sued the village last year after residents filed referendum petitions to overturn the council's approval of a commercial business and retail complex on the former golf course.

The company owns about 16 acres at the site on state Route 8 and Hines Hill Road.

Village residents contacted by the Beacon Journal on Saturday after word spread about the proposed deal spoke out strongly against it.

''The fight isn't over yet,'' said resident George Hlavacs, who attended Friday night's meeting. ''There's going to be more litigation on this, I believe, from the citizens.

''We voted not to have this thing developed, and council went ahead and did what they wanted to do anyhow. They overruled what the vote of the people was, so now we're going to see what we can do.''

He said that the referendum petitions favored keeping the current zoning, permitting only housing on 11/2-acre lots.

''It's zoned for housing. Leave it the way it is,'' Hlavacs said. ''Now they're talking big-box stores and a hospital. That was a complete surprise. It was the first time we ever heard about a hospital.''

Although the developer of the hospital was not identified, Summa Health System and a group of doctors want to build a 100-bed hospital in northern Summit County and are looking at several sites.

Resident Mary Griffiths said she was upset that Village Council members held Friday night'sspecial meeting without sending letters or notices informing residents about it.

''I feel this is not the way you do things in a village,'' Griffiths said. ''If people are supposed to get notices about rezoning, then you should get them. They did this as an emergency (meeting).''