A group of Ballard citizens and business is attempting to halt the construction of Urness House, 80-units of housing and two floors of services for formerly homeless men and women, which was scheduled to begin construction this winter.

The group, called the Ballard Preservation Association, filed two separate appeals with the Seattle Office of the Hearing Examiner Oct. 18, the final day for appeals, calling for a full environmental impact statement to be created for the Compass Housing Alliance project at 1753 N.W. 56th St. as well as a reconvening of the Design Review Board for the project.

According to the appeal, the Ballard Preservation Association includes Ballard Partners, Neidler Manufacturing Company and Lew Wong Realestate. Neidler Manufacturing Company gives a Bellevue address, and Lew Wong Realestate gives a Renton address.

In an email to various City of Seattle officials, Rowley and Klauser, the law firm representing the Ballard Preservation association, state that Urness House is just one of a number of projects designed to shift the homeless sex offender populations out of downtown Seattle and into Ballard.

The Low Income Housing Institute is planning a residential building for low-income families and an Urban Rest Stop two blocks away from the Urness House site.

M.J. Kiser, Compass Housing Alliance program director, said there is already a sizable homeless population living on Ballard streets, as there has been for a number of years, but there are proportionally fewer services for homeless people in the neighborhood than in other areas of the city.

"Our project will not increase the number of homeless people in the neighborhood," Kiser said. "And, unfortunately, it will not by itself solve the problem of homelessness in the Ballard neighborhood.

In its appeals, the Ballard Preservation Association claims that the Seattle Department of Planning and Development needs to conduct a State Environmental Protection Act analysis of the cumulative effect of similar projects that could come to the area in the future.

The appeal also claims that the Department of Planning and Development is playing "fast and loose" with required project disclosures and that the Urness House project has taken on a "chameleon nature."

The Ballard Preservation Association states in the appeal that the city has failed to disclose its financial position or interest in Urness House.

The association also claims the city is now characterizing the future tenants of Urness House as low-income elderly and low-income disabled people with no evidence to back up the switch from the previous description of future residents as formerly homeless men and women.

Bryan Stevens, spokesperson for the Department of Planning and Development, said the department is making that distinction because elderly and disabled residents have a reduced parking requirement. Plans for Urness House include no parking for tenants.

Kiser said both descriptions of future Urness House residents are accurate. She said the residents or Urness House will be elderly or disabled and Compass has not attempted to mislead the public about that.

In addition to the previous claims, the Ballard Preservation Association accuses the Department of Planning and Development of failing in nearly every facet of the design review and environmental analysis process for the project.

In addition to many other claims, the association states the department did not address neighborhood concerns, did not reference the Ballard Neighborhood Plan, did not analyze Compass Housing Alliance's management scheme or its allowance of sex offenders, did not accurately analyze the zoning and parking requirements or the potential increase in crime in downtown Ballard. In addition, the association claims the design review was "clearly faulty."

Kiser said housing projects such as Urness House tend to increase property values. In addition, Compass will be improving lighting in the rear alley and providing eyes on the streets with its 24-hour-a-day front desk staff, she said.

"The residents will be more stable and their involvement in nuisance crimes, such as sitting on sidewalks and camping in public spaces, will be eliminated," she said.

Stevens said the Department of Planning and Development can not address many of the points in the appeals until the hearing, which is scheduled for Dec. 13. After that, the hearing examiner has approximately two weeks to render a decision.

Kiser said Compass believes the hearing examiner will uphold the Department of Planning and Development's earlier decisions. Compass continues to hope to being construction this winter, she said.

"We are disappointed the appeals were filed," she said. "Reducing street homelessness is a goal we share with our Ballard neighbors. We believe providing affordable housing is the best way to achieve that goal."

The Seattle Department of Planning and Development approved Urness House's design and offered a determination of nonsignificance in its environmental analysis Oct. 4.