Neighbors who oppose a Safeway discount gas station that could be built in the Crown Hill neighborhood plan to file an appeal with the city if land use permits for the project are approved.

Last August, Seattle's Department of Planning and Development requested that Safeway submit additional traffic analysis of its plan to build a high-volume, discount gas station on 15th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 83rd Street. It's part of an environmental review required for large development projects.

The city took issue with Safeway's estimates of potential trip generation and spillover traffic onto nearby residential streets for the fueling facility.

A decision could be released this week or next, said Alan Justad, spokesman for the department of planning and development.

A group of citizens who oppose the development believe it's at odds with the Ballard/Crown Hill Neighborhood Plan, which calls for creating a more pedestrian-friendly environment in the area. Many say a gas station would increase traffic and pose pedestrian related hazards.

Traffic spill over into residential streets is a possibility, according to some nearby residents. Many drivers already use side streets in that area as shortcuts to avoid traffic on 15th Avenue Northwest.

Whittier Elementary School and Whitman Middle School are both located nearby. A daycare with several deaf parents and students operates on the corner of 14th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 83rd Street.

"We are assessing our legal options at this point," said Andrea Faste, a member of the group fighting the gas station. "We're just really frustrated."

The group is looking to raise anywhere from $2,000 to $20,000 for proper legal counsel for the potential appeal process.

"Although it makes absolutely no sense to allow this gas station given the traffic problems and neighborhood opposition, we are very concerned that the city will approve Safeway's proposal any day," the group wrote in an email release. "Our neighborhood is determined to continue to fight the gas station project - even if the city approves the application."

When asked how much community concerns had played into the pending decision, Justad said public comments help the department clarify what the biggest issues are and what to focus on throughout the review.

"We take it very seriously," he said.

However, decisions are ultimately based on the technical requirements laid out by the State Environmental Policy Act, which includes examining traffic, zoning and environmental impacts, he said.

"Even if there are no comments on a project, it's our job to look at it from a general public standpoint," said Justad. "When you hear from more people you really do pay attention to the issues they raise."

Calls to Safeway representatives were unreturned.

Safeway first tried to build a gas station at that location in 2001, but withdrew its application after the city asked the company to do further traffic and parking studies. In 2005, the grocery store chain again applied for a permit to build the fuel station.

The Seattle City Council issued an emergency pedestrian designation that specifically prohibits gas stations to block that application. The temporary designation expired on April 1 last year, one month before it went into effect permanently. In the interim, Safeway re-submitted its application.

Last summer, about 140 residents of Crown Hill and nearby neighborhoods came to a public hearing to speak out against the gas station--which could potentially serve as many as a dozen vehicles at a time.

As well as traffic and pedestrian safety, residents' concerns focused on the manner in which Safeway obtained the permit for the project. Some felt that the city had ignored public commitments it made to create a pedestrian-friendly urban village in the area.

To support the appeal process, e-mail Hugh, at bb936@scn.org.

Information from Ballard News-Tribune archives was used in this report.