A planned housing development west of Pacific Highway South in Des Moines' Redondo community came under fire at the Feb. 28 city council meeting.

Seven neighborhood residents voiced complaints about the project, proposed for a 12.9-acre site also bordered by 15th Avenue South and South 279th Street, during a public hearing.

Most of the opposition was related to concerns about traffic and environmental impacts.

Council members voted to continue the hearing at their March 27 meeting.

The Pacific Heights housing development site, which extends into both Federal Way and unincorporated King County, is designed to accommodate 77 home lots.

An existing wetland also would be maintained there despite some environmental impact.

The site has two proposed entrances, one on the north side from Redondo Riviera and the other on the south side through the Applewood community off 15th Avenue South in Federal Way.

Representatives from the Applewood Homeowners Association suggested putting up a gate to block traffic through their neighborhood.

Applewood resident Ellen LeVita said one thing that bothers her about two traffic studies conducted for the Pacific Heights development is that they only considered impacts on the Redondo Riviera.

"Without going all the way up to 279th, the only other way to get up to Highway 99 [Pacific Highway] and go north is to come through our neighborhood. Then you have to go up 16th Avenue South to Highway 99," LeVita said.

She noted that 16th Avenue South is a narrow two-lane road with no sidewalks and a bus stop at the corner of South 288th Street.

Generally, said LeVita, she passes two to three people walking in the road in the dark every morning on her way to work.

"There's not even a path along the edge of the road. They have to walk in the street. I see a lot of close calls is what I'm trying to say."

But, said Land Use Planner I Jason Sullivan, "The streets have the capacity to handle the additional traffic....

"This subdivision, its only access, is between two neighborhoods," Sullivan noted. "If you gate ... the southern end ... all of these trails and all of this traffic will have to funnel through Redondo Riviera, which only has one access at 276th Street."

"However, there was and will be a quality of life impact as a result of the project," he conceded.

Sullivan said population density also is a concern.

The Pacific Heights site has been designated for development since 1997. The original plan called for up to 130 condominiums.

When Des Moines annexed the Redondo Riviera in 1998 this project was absorbed into the city.

In 2005 Granville Southern Company sold the development project to Pacific West LLC, which changed the development's name in 2006 from Pacific Place to Pacific Heights.

Traffic studies were conducted both in 1998 and 2007.

The council rescheduled a discussion about streets in the Des Moines Creek Business Park for Thursday, March 6.