By SHANNON PRIEBE

It sounds simple enough. A couple of schools want to renovate their athletic fields and voters approve. Not exactly the foundation for a major controversy

But factor in the issues of lighting and loudspeaker system use, traffic, and drainage problems and residents in the area become vehemently outspoken.

Last month on Jan. 13, neighbors of Nathan Hale High School and Jane Addams School, which is across the street from Nathan Hale, made their voices heard in a meeting between the Meadowbrook Action Committee (MAC) and the Seattle School District.

"Everyone wants the fields to be upgraded," said Renee Barton a Meadowbrook neighborhood resident who heads the community's efforts to be recognized by the School District. However, she added that the neighborhood feels left out of the decision making process by the School District. "We're trying to get a balance," Barton said.

Residents are still waiting for a response from the School District in regards to the meeting. At the meeting, MAC presented its concerns about the issues of the lack of enough parking, too much lighting, the amount of use of the loudspeaker system on week days and the drainage problem. Since the neighbors have had trouble in the past with floods, they are worried that the fields may drain to much water into storm sewers and cause excess water to flow into the streets and into people's basements.

"We hope they'll be good neighbors," Barton said, but she added that she understands that the athletic community desires to build the fields as they have been designed.

But Lynn Steinburg, a spokeswoman for the School District, said that they have been good neighbors.

"We've been listening to the community," Steinburg said. "We've been meeting with the community and trying to come to an agreement."

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Feb. 9 with the Seattle Hearing Examiner .A citizens group called the Meadowbrook Legal Defense Fund (MLDF), along with community activists Renee Barton and Keith Hoeller, filed an appeal on Dec. 16 challenging the City's decision to approve a Master Use Permit for construction of the fields. The City gave the go-ahead after issuing a Determination of Non-Significance with regards to the project's possible impacts on the surrounding environment.

The appeal argues that the City failed to provide a careful review of reasonable alternatives to the proposed athletic fields project, as required by the City's Seattle Environmental Protection Act (SEPA). The MLDF has retained the services of attorney David Mann to serve as its legal representative in the case.

The appeal also claims that the City failed to consider the full impacts of the proposed renovations on parking, traffic, flooding and stormwater runoff, noise, light and glare, pedestrian safety, property values and the aesthetic values on the surrounding neighborhood.

However, School District spokeswoman Steinburg stressed that the fields had been approved by voters in 1998 as part of a levy that included two other projects. "The project is supported by many, many people who want to use safe, artificial turf fields," Steinburg said.

Meadowbrook Legal Defense Fund is asking homeowners in the community for financial support to help get the project scaled back. For more information, call Renee Barton at (206) 367-5764.