Ahwatukee Foothills residents turned out by the hundreds Thursday to get the facts and air their feelings on the proposed South Mountain Freeway.

After seeing the maps and hearing the presentations, community members seemed to have one message for the Arizona Department of Transportation: Not in our town.

"I just plain don't want it," said Daniel Thompson, who wore a T-shirt printed with "South Mountain 202" inside a red circle with a line crossed through it.

More than 500 people showed up within the first two hours of the daylong open house hosted by ADOT at the Grace Inn. Attendees started pouring into the meeting hall even before the scheduled start time of noon. Two similar meetings earlier in the week in Avondale and Laveen had a combined total attendance of about 600.

Many took time off work to attend. Corners of the room had the look of a neighborhood block party, as clusters of residents from neighborhoods bordering the future route greeted one another and discussed their concerns.

Tempers and voices rose as residents disparaged the Pecos Road alignment to ADOT officials and each other. Two deputies from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office were on hand to keep an eye on the crowd in case things got heated, said Sgt. Dave Norton of Phoenix police.

Comments written on index cards tacked to a bulletin board ranged from desperate ("Please do not kill the nice neighborhood we live in!") to hostile ("Take this freeway and shove it!") to the downright unprintable.

"The more people the better," said Mike Bruder, project manager for ADOT.

"The freeway building process is personal and emotional for a lot of folks."

Residents' arguments against the freeway ranged from concerns about pollution to the possibility of increased crime to its proximity to schools along Pecos.

Spread across tables were giant aerial photographs with the proposed route along Pecos Road drawn in. The reality of the freeway's possible location drew ire from residents who found their homes in or next to the planned highway.

"I'll never be able to open my windows again or sit on my patio," said Sharon Kumnick, who moved into a new condominium at 12th Avenue and Liberty Lane in March 2003.

As currently designed, the freeway would claim up to 255 existing and planned homes in Ahwatukee, some of which are currently priced in the range of $500,000 and up.

Though the potential alignment has been on the books since 1985 - longer than most of the homes in this quiet corner of Phoenix have existed - residents said that the impact of the freeway on today's Ahwatukee is great enough to justify changing the plans.

"We have taken 20 years to build this community," said Brian Smith. "To have this atmosphere we have built is precious. Just because it was proposed for 20 years doesn't mean we have to do it."

A freeway, several said, could destroy the unique, isolated feel of the area that many moved to Ahwatukee specifically to enjoy.

"What's going to happen with no panoramic view?" said Julie Verrill, who lives near 40th Street and Pecos. "People aren't just going to lose their homes, but could lose the reason they want to be here."

Rock Argabright, a member of the Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce and the South Mountain Citizens Advisory Team, took issue with those who said they didn't know the freeway would affect them.

"It's surprising that people would be 'shocked' when we've been talking about this since 1987," he said.

Jesse Mietus of Club West said he feared that losing Pecos to a freeway would bring deadly amounts of traffic to Ahwatukee's streets.

"The trucks, the cars are going to be killing our kids," he said. "If they take (Pecos) away I'm going to be scared to live there."

Frustration at stalled negotiations with the Gila River Indian Community was pervasive. Since the most recent study of the freeway began, the community has not consented to study of a route on their land.

"If you need money to pay the high price of building on the Indian land, raise my taxes," Mietus said. "Raise my taxes, but do not build a freeway on Pecos Road."

There was also concern about the impact on property values. ADOT pays fair market value and relocation expenses for homes in the freeway's path.

For homes near a freeway, studies have shown that the appreciation rate slows during construction, said Jack Allen of HDR, Inc., a consultant working with ADOT. Once the freeway is built, research is split on whether rates return to normal or stay slow, he said.

Overwhelmingly, residents said that the Ahwatukee community would not use the freeway. Few were buying ADOT's assertion that the freeway is intended as a traffic reliever for Interstate 10 and not solely as a bypass for truck traffic.

"I don't see any reason why I would need to get to that area (the West Valley)," said Teri Pinkstaff. "If it went downtown, it would make more sense."

A final decision on the freeway's location is not due until 2007. Until then, residents said they would continue to fight.

"Anybody who's an elected official in office if this goes through, vote 'em out," said Jeff Ludwig.

Reach the reporter at corinne.purtill@arizonarepublic.com