By CLAYTON PARK

On Dec. 2, the director of the City's Department of Design, Construction and Land Use issued a decision approving Simon Property Group's revised plan to expand Northgate Mall.

That decision has sparked legal challenges, not only from the three original parties that opposed Simon's plans, but now a fourth party as well: the Victory Heights chapter of a new citizens group called PONDERS (Protect Our Neighborhoods' Design, Environment Rural feeling and Streams).

PONDERS leader Dorothy Douglas said her group wants to address concerns that "may have been overlooked in the first round" of efforts.

PONDERS is especially concerned with addressing possible impacts that an expanded Northgate Mall might have on Victory Heights, the neighborhood located just east of the shopping center, between Roosevelt and Lake City Way, and from NE 95th to NE 115th.

The other groups appealing DCLU's Dec. 2 decision are: Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund, Citizens for a Livable Northgate, and Haller Lake community activist Sue Geving.

TCLDF wants the City to require Simon to daylight the portion of Thornton Creek that it says runs below the surface of the parking lot immediately south of the mall.

Geving wants the City to be more strict in requiring Simon to follow the guidelines set forth in the Northgate Area Comprehensive Plan, a document drafted by local citizens and adopted by the City Council in the early '90s. The Comp Plan was intended to be a blueprint for transforming the Northgate area into a pedestrian-oriented urban village environment, but that may never come to pass if the City allows developers to blatantly ignore those guidelines, says Geving - a sentiment shared by many other community activists.

Geving, who lives a block north of the mall, is also concerned about impacts that directly affect the Haller Lake neighborhood.

CFLN, led by Licton Springs community activist Jan Brucker, is a coalition of members from the several communities immediately surrounding Northgate Mall: Licton Springs, Haller Lake, Maple Leaf and Pinehurst. Like Geving, CFLN is concerned with making sure the Comp Plan is upheld, but it also has the vantage of viewing things from a multi-neighborhood perspective.

The latest round of appeals has created battles in two legal arenas - in addition to the efforts to block DCLU's decision, TCLDF, CFLN, Geving and Simon have all filed separate appeals seeking to throw out a City Hearing Examiner's June 28 decision that not only rejected Simon's original proposal but also knocked many of the citizens groups' chief arguments.

On Jan. 14, a City Hearing Examiner will hold a preliminary meeting to examine the appeals of DCLU decision. As expected, the hearing examiner has already moved to consolidate the four separately-filed appeals.

The official hearing has been set for Feb. 7. However, that hearing could be moved to a later date, according to Brucker.

That's because Feb. 10 is the court date for the appeals of the previous Hearing Examiner's decision. "Clearly something should be delayed," said Brucker.

For more information, contact CFLN at 526-5342.