Obstructed mountain views, increased traffic and parking headaches are just a few of the issues neighbors have with a proposed transit-oriented development near Zia Road and St. Francis Drive.

Developer SF Brown faced a somewhat hostile crowd at the library of Capshaw Middle School during an early neighborhood-notification meeting Wednesday night.

The local firm wants to spend the next 10-plus years building offices, retail space and rental condominiums on the 20 acres it owns on all sides of the intersection of Zia Road with Galisteo Road — where the state has promised to stop commuter trains.

But for a number of the nearly 100 people in attendance, the development is a scary prospect.

The 590,000 square feet of commercial area, along with more than 200 dwelling units, have the potential to further snarl a congested roadway. Some people at the meeting reported waiting up to 20 minutes to access Zia during peak periods.

"How are we going to get out of our neighborhoods from the side streets?" asked Mike Gomez, who lives nearby. "We can't get out of our neighborhoods now, and school has not even started yet."

Although SF Brown is proposing a new traffic light at Galisteo, that idea would need to pass city muster. Just this week, workers realigned the railroad tracks across Zia, a change traffic engineers say should also improve the flow of vehicles.

Project planners raved about the benefits of a so-called "village" development of the area, an idea that some neighbors also supported. They said home values could increase by 15 percent or more for existing residents. Pedestrian, bicycle, bus and train travel will be encouraged.

"This is a dream project for an architect or a planner to work on," said Chris Gunning of the design firm Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, pointing to opportunities to integrate transit and infill. "It just does a lot of things that are the right thing to do."

Their proposal includes a depot building and several two- and three-story structures on the site, including the portion that formerly held a pumice plant.

Resident Carolyn Agard winced at the density.

"I don't want two or three stories," she said. "We just got rid of the pumice plant — which was an eyesore — and we got lovely views. Now they will be taking those away again."

Others raised questions about parking. City code requires about 1,600 parking spaces for full build-out, and Brown said only 20 are devoted to the train platform. One neighbor said he believed patrons and workers using the development would park on residential streets. Another, David Pease, asked how Brown would guarantee the outcome. "My concern is the excess number of people wanting to park there and the whole development becoming a park and ride," Pease said.

Brown said his company will manage the rental housing and police parking for the long term, making changes as needed. Several hundred spaces would be in underground or above-ground garages.

Half the property is zoned for mixed use, and the proposal will make a similar request for the remaining land, which Brown said now has no zoning. The project will also require several layers of city development review.

Although the state Rail Runner Express commuter trains are scheduled to begin service to Santa Fe by the end of the year, it will be longer before they stop at the Zia platform. The city must first alert the state that the site is ready.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 505-986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.