The first of two public hearings on controversial Langley Passage, a proposed 20-house development in Langley’s Edgecliff neighborhood, will be today in Langley.

The hearing, conducted by the city’s Planning Advisory Board, will be at 4 p.m. at Langley United Methodist Church, Third Street and Anthes Avenue.

A second hearing will be at next month’s PAB meeting before recommendation is made to the city council.

Today’s hearing will focus on the development’s preliminary plat. The second will cover two environmental appeals filed by local groups opposed to the project.

The development, first proposed in 2006 by Whidbey Neighborhood Partners, would be built on 8.5 acres between Edgecliff Drive and Sandy Point Road.

Managing partner for the project is Gary Roth, owner of the Roth Co. of Freeland, which specializes in building custom homes.

Roth said the plan is for 20 “affordable” one- and two-story houses built along a private road. Most of the houses would be three-bedroom, and in the $300,000 to $500,000 price range, he said.

The project has drawn steady opposition from Whidbey Environmental Action Network and the Langley Critical Areas Alliance, an organization made up of Edgecliff neighbors and other Langley residents.

The groups are concerned about drainage issues involving a potentially overloaded outfall, the adjacent wetland, the stability of the bluff and the water table.

The project is within an area of the city included in a current moratorium on subdivisions, but the application was filed before the moratorium went into effect in June 2007, and so is exempt from the restriction.

Details of the Langley Passage proposal are posted on the city’s Web site, www.langleywa.org.