Residents of several neighborhoods near Wandermere Golf Course have hired an attorney and plan to lobby county commissioners Tuesday to oppose plans to construct a three-story apartment complex on forested land.

At a packed-house meeting Sunday night at Covenant United Methodist Church, more than a hundred neighbors met to make sure they provided what one speaker called a "united front" at a public hearing scheduled for Tuesday night. The lone agenda item is considering a rezoning request from Rudeen Development to change a 4.5 acre parcel from low- to high-density, key in its plans to construct a three-story, 354-unit apartment complex on an oblong plot between North Wandermere Road and U.S. Highway 395.

Here's a map showing where the proposed development would be from Spokesman-Review graphic artist Molly Quinn:

County commissioners, prompted by Al French, chose to hold another public hearing on the rezoning after the county's planning commission voted in November to reject the rezoning, based on arguments from neighbors about the strain on Mead's schools and area traffic. Jennifer Mudge, an area resident who has led the organizing effort to combat the development, led the meeting Sunday and said she wants to fill the commissioners' public hearing space with bodies.

"I hope we have more than this, I honestly want to flood that room," Mudge said. "I want to be overflowing, out of the room, up the stairs."

Several of the speakers Sunday night talked about traffic concerns on Wandermere, particularly with children playing across the street and crossing to play with children who might move in to the apartment complex. Others worried their home values would plummet with apartments visible from their backyards on the forested bluff where the proposed apartments would be built.

Among those in attendance was Tom Rockefeller, superintendent of the Mead School District. He said after the meeting the school is in a tough spot, but hasn't taken any official position on the development. A member of the school board said they'd be meeting Monday night and would draft a statement in opposition to the project.

At the meeting was an envelope for collections to pay attorney's fees. The neighbors have hired legal counsel in anticipation of the proposal being approved by county commissioners. They would likely appeal that decision, sending the proposal to the Growth Management Hearings Board.

Tuesday's meeting on the rezoning will take place in the Commissioners Assembly Room at the county's Public Works Building, 1026 W. Broadway Ave., at 5:30 p.m. Mudge said she hopes county commissioners, who can overrule the planning commission's recommendation and allow the project to move forward will work with neighbors on the project.

"We're not saying, 'Don't build,'" Mudge said. "We're just saying, 'Work with us.'"

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