POULSBO — After enduring an unsightly clear cut, burn pile ash and smoke over the past year, residents of Meadow Run and Glen Haven might have to abide to something else they didn’t plan on when work on a new 29-home development started in their neighborhood last year — lower property values.

When the preliminary plat was approved for the site at the corner of Noll and Mesford roads last year, land owner Gary Prisk repeatedly promised those living adjacent to the property that the single-family houses built would be classy, upscale. Then he sold the Whitneys Glen property to the Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority.

The change in ownership, which neighbors became privy to through rumors, has many residents upset and numerous others worried about what effect the development might have on their homes’ valuations.

Wednesday night, a small contingent from the Glen Haven-Meadow Run area approached city council in the hopes of confirming the land sale and to express their angst with the fact that they were not informed of the change.

“To most of them it was a complete surprise,” Davis Faunce said of his neighbors. Prisk, he added, had already made some alterations to existing properties at the site to prepare for the housing development.

While Faunce and his wife, Karen, also raised questions about promised tree buffers, lighting, housing standards and runoff detention at the corner lot, the discussion boiled down to just one thing — property values.

“Somebody has to make the difference up if our property values go down,” Davis Faunce said, noting that he planned to investigate what Prisk’s homes would have cost and compare them to those built by the Housing Authority.

“We have definite concerns because promises were made by Gary Prisk,” Karen Faunce said.

But a change in ownership won’t translate to a change in land use at Whitneys Glen, the council assured. That, according to City Planner Glenn Gross, would require a new preliminary plat.

“They can’t change density” Councilman Jeff McGinty pointed out.

Gross concurred, adding that developers also could not alter lot sizes, the type of housing built, or buffer zones around the property without a new plat.

They could, however, create less expensive single-family housing at the site.

“I am very concerned,” explained day care owner Lisa Manzer, who said she and her family are now considering moving out of the neighborhood. “We’re very upset. We thought $200,000 homes were going in across the street, not low-income housing.”

While Allen Trunnell of the Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority said he understood the neighbors’ concerns, he also said the 29 homes his agency intended to build at the corner would be a “beautiful fit” for the area.

“We don’t want anyone to drive by our homes and say that’s low-income housing,” Trunnell said, noting that the homes would appraise between $165,000 and $175,000 and the Housing Authority would have control over everything from design, layout and activity at the development and color of the residences. The Housing Authority would be contacting Whitneys Glen neighbors to explain its plans, he added.

“We’re not changing anything. Our intent is to not change the conditions of approval (for the preliminary plat),” Trunnell said, noting that homes will be constructed for individuals at/or below 80 percent the medium income.

Additionally, he invited neighbors to attend an open house today, Saturday, June 8 in Kingston so they could see first hand just what type of homes the Housing Authority intended for Poulsbo.

The event is slated from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Barrett Road, which is located just off Barber Cutoff Road.