Members of the Ross planning commission got a first-hand look yesterday morning at the steep-sloped property proposed for a controversial 11-unit townhouse project.

Commission members met on Rodenbaugh Avenue with representatives of the partnership seeking to build the "moderate-income" rental units on the city of Pittsburgh line. They then took a walking tour through the site.

They were shadowed by about a dozen neighbors who have attended township meetings and circulated petitions to show their opposition to the proposal.

The $2.1 million project would be a joint project involving HEARTH, a non-profit agency that works with homeless women and their children, and Trek Development Group, a for-profit real estate development firm.

Jerry Drozynski, president of the board of HEARTH, said he was surprised at the extent of neighborhood opposition.

The townhouses will not be public housing, he said, but will be "affordable housing" rented at below-market rates to families earning between $20,680 and $34,400.

The Rodenbaugh Avenue site offered several advantages, he said. It was in the North Hills School District, close to public transportation and near employment opportunities.

Neighbors warned Mr. Drozynski that the children of tenants would have no safe place to play on their hilly, narrow street. They predicted that any construction on the steeply sloped site would worsen already serious storm-water runoff problems in their neighborhood.

They also said 11 townhouse units housing single mothers and more than two dozen children would change the character of their neighborhood.

"We're almost all senior citizens," said Louise Cullen, who has lived on nearby Roseland Avenue for 28 years. "We can't take anymore noise and traffic."

Planners briefly considered the townhouse project at their Sept. 27 meeting, but they postponed making any recommendation until they could visit the property. The issue is back on the planners' agenda for their Oct. 25 meeting.

Planning commission Chairman James Wigal has noted that his group is an advisory body. Township commissioners will have the final word on approval.

Trek and HEARTH need township approval to subdivide the five-acre tract on Rodenbaugh Avenue into seven lots. They also are asking for conditional-use approval to create a community room in one of the duplex units.

If township officials don't like the community-room concept, that space can be used for a 12th housing unit, the partners have said.