The Community Preservation Committee is requesting $1.9 million in Community Preservation Act funds to go to the Newton Affordable Housing Trust, which is to help fund a 72-unit all-affordable housing development proposed by Beacon Properties for 1314 Washington St. in West Newton.

But Monday night, that affordable housing project met a hurdle in Newton’s City Council.

Councilor Julia Malakie said too much is unknown about whether or not the project—set for the former Santander Bank building, where a dance studio currently operates—falls within a by-right distinction or needs special permitting. And, she said, she doesn’t want one private housing development taking so much of the city’s CPA funds.

“I don’t want only to spend CPA money on eligible city projects, but to the extent we can do that, it gets those projects done sooner, or frees up city funds for schools and roads and everything else that people care about,” she said.

Malakie made a motion to push the vote back to Dec. 7, so the Historical Commission can weigh in on the project now that the developer has made a few changes regarding project footprint and parking.

“We are being asked to help sell a monster debt exclusion to the voters next year,” Malakie said, referring to a likely tax levy override request from the mayor to pay for a new police station. “Trust is important, as the mayor says every time he’s asked about an operating override. We need to show that we are good stewards of all taxpayer funds.”

But, Councilor Sean Roche replied, the Historical Commission and other groups do their vetting independent of the city council, so a delay in making funds available makes no sense. And if the project doesn’t go through, the money doesn’t go to Beacon Properties.

The $1.9 million is just this year’s request related to 1314 Washington St., Councilor Stephen Farrell pointed out. Last year, they got $1 million, and the plan is to come back for another $1 million next year. And that had Farrell widening the discussion even further about the city’s role as a financier of special projects.

“I have a real concern about our relationship with the CPC,” Farrell said. “$4 million for this one project. We gave $2 million for the First Baptist Church in Newton Centre, and we gave $2 million to West Newton Center. That’s $8 million for three projects. And as far as I know, we really never had a conversation with anybody about what the city gets back for that.”

And in another plot twist with 1314 Washington St., there’s an effort underway to have that property landmarked.

Housing advocates called foul on attempts to delay the project.

“The Affordable Housing Trust was formed several years ago and unanimously approved by the city council to avoid just what is happening here,” Ward 1 Councilor Maria Greenberg said. “It was formed to streamline the approval process of desperately needed affordable housing, and not to get bogged down in the bureaucracy and city council wrangling.”

Councilor Susan Albright noted that, before the city council established the Affordable Housing Trust, no developers were coming to Newton with all-affordable proposals because of delays and political games.

“These are like $80 million projects, and we’re trying to give them maybe 15 percent of the funds to get them off the ground to go to the state, because the state says, ‘We’re not going to give you money until you have a stake in the ground in the local community,’” Albright said. “So that’s what the Affordable Housing Trust is trying to do.”

If a vote on the funding was delayed into December, Beacon Properties would have trouble applying for state funding this year, Councilor Brittany Hume Charm insisted. And next December is the next application period.

“Time is money,” Charm said. “Carrying costs are high. It is by no means a guarantee that this project would still be there if we were to be waiting another full year. And if it were, then the cost of the project would be much higher.”

After rigorous debate, the council scheduled a special meeting for Nov. 30 to vote on the funding.