The city of Miami's long-delayed and still-controversial Miami 21 zoning overhaul, which could change the shape of urban development for a generation, was delayed yet again Wednesday night when the planning advisory board postponed a vote on the final major pieces of the plan.

The decision to postpone means the city commission may be unable to vote on the full Miami 21 rezoning in December, as it was expected to. It also means the commission's final vote on the plan may not occur until February.

The board voted 8-1 to postpone after some members and residents complained that they were being asked to consider new zoning maps for the city's north, west and south areas without fully understanding changes recently made to the proposed underlying code. The board had endorsed the code last year, but it has undergone considerable revision since then.

The city attorney's staff told the board it would not be able to vote again on the code because the changes were not substantial enough to merit reconsideration, but only on the three remaining zoning maps based on it. The board endorsed the zoning map for the east quadrant last year.

The board will take the matter up again on Dec. 17.

The Miami 21 code, a major goal of Mayor Manny Diaz's administration, seeks to scrap the existing patchwork of zoning regulations in favor of a simpler, more-cohesive plan that backers say will produce a more-urban, pedestrian-friendly city, with greater protections for residential neighborhoods and less outscaled development.

But the plan continues to be dogged by criticism from some architects, developers' lawyers and neighborhood activists. They contend it is hard to understand, would limit public input on new development, and could lead to long stretches of homogeneous design. Some complain it also fails to offer residential areas sufficient protection from intrusive development.

''The process has not been clear and the plan is not what we were told it would be,'' said activist and East Side resident Richard Strell at the hearing.

The board approved the new Miami 21 zoning code for the city's eastern quadrant in April 2007. But the city commission subsequently decided to postpone a vote until the new zoning maps for the entire city were finished. That job was completed earlier this month.

At Wednesday's meeting, city planning director Ana Gelabert Sanchez showed renderings comparing possible or actual buildings under current code and under Miami 21 to show that the new code would allow plenty of room for architectural variety and creativity. She also ran down a long list of concerns raised by the local American Institute of Architects chapter to demonstrate how they were addressed.

Planning consultants from the firm of Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. also made multiple adjustments to the draft plan in response to neighborhood concerns -- for instance, lowering proposed heights next to Town Park in Overtown and the Spring Garden historic district along the Miami River, both in the west quadrant the board was to consider Wednesday.

Diaz launched the rezoning effort, a key goal of his administration, as the city exploded in a building boom of unprecedented scope, which created friction with residents concerned about the impact on residential neighborhoods. The rezoning is part of a larger plan under the Miami 21 umbrella that comprises a new finished master plan for parks and open spaces, as well as policies to encourage affordable housing and economic development.

But the rezoning has garnered the lion's share of attention. Members of Miami Neighborhoods United, a coalition of local associations, complained that the board should not vote before taking another look at the code, which activists say has been revised significantly since it was approved last year.

Hadley Williams, an MNU member, also complained that the group has not had enough time to evaluate the latest version of the code, released Nov. 5.

But Gelabert Sanchez said the changes were not substantial enough to prompt a new vote on the underlying code.

PAB member Janice Tarbert proposed postponing a vote until the board could reconsider the code.

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