By JESSE ROSS

As part of a citywide effort to renovate and improve the Seattle School District's playfields, Nathan Hale High School will soon become home to a new sports field, complete with a 1,500-seat bleacher section and stadium-style lights.

The problem, according to several neighbors who spoke at the Meadowbrook Community Council's Oct. 12 meeting, is that the new playfield is TOO stadium-like. Critics of the School District's plans questioned the size and location of the new Nathan Hale playfield.

Neighbors' concerns included increased parking congestion, bright lights, and crowd noise that would be generated by the playfield and the 10 nighttime varsity football games that would be held there each fall.

Though Nathan Hale's current playfield only has 220 on-site parking spaces, the School District has no plans to increase the number of parking spaces, even though it is planning to increase the size of the spectators' seating area. That's because District officials believe they can offset the increased attendance that the playfield is expected to attract by encouraging greater use of buses, carpools and parent-drop-offs. Football games at the new playfield are expected to draw between 500 and 600 people on average, according to the School District. The District plans to hold games that are expected to draw 1,000 or more people at the much larger Memorial Stadium at Seattle Center.

In an effort to minimize the amount of glare generated by the field lighting, the School District plans to follow the examples set by Bothell and Shorecrest high schools, which use glare-reducing "shoebox" lights that are designed to focus the lighting down onto the playfield instead of outward into the neighborhood.

While some neighbors acknowledged the School District's efforts to address their concerns, most remained skeptical of the District's ability to keep a 1,500-seat stadium from disrupting the community, no matter what type of lighting or parking plan is used.

Meadowbrook resident Renee Barton headed the community's call for recognition by presenting School District officials with a counter-proposal listing neighborhood concerns. She also present them with a written request for a meeting with School District representatives to discuss compromises regarding the proposed sports field.

Construction Nathan Hale's new playfield is scheduled to begin this coming spring. The project is expected to be complete by August 2000.