An army of concerned Alachua County residents mobilized Monday in front of Gainesville city commissioners in hopes of canceling a mega-development planned for their backyards.

The group, called the Coalition for Responsible Growth, protested a large shopping and living center named Spring Hills.

The complex, set to go up at the intersection of Interstate 75 and Northwest 39th Avenue, was first approved in 1999 with a smaller planned size.

Now, after recent design changes from the developers, it is planned to house more than 1.5 million square feet of retail space, 500,000 square feet of industrial and office space, 2,200 residential units and about 625 hotel rooms.

Nearby shopping centers The Oaks Mall and Butler Plaza contain about 1 million square feet each.

"It's the vastness of the whole project - it's just huge," Commissioner Jeanna Mastrodicasa said in an interview before the meeting. "That's what's distressing."

A representative from the development said before the meeting that the shopping center would bring tax revenue and close to 5,000 jobs into the area.

However, coalition secretary Larry Keen said the center would cost taxpayers more - by demanding bigger schools, larger police and fire units and expanded social services - than it would bring back. He added that those promised jobs would most likely be poorly paid retail positions.

Coalition members also told commissioners that the development would bring massive traffic congestion, property value plummets, financial instability and environmental dangers like pollution runoff into a nearby drinking-water aquifer.

Commissioners and coalition members also expressed concern that the development would go against the city and county's plans for the future, which include decreasing urban sprawl and focusing development efforts on East Gainesville.

If it's built, it will be about a mile from SFCC's northwest campus, roughly four miles from The Oaks Mall and about six miles from UF's campus.

Commissioner Jack Donovan said he thought the development was "severely bad news for Gainesville's future."

"I think we should resist both stages of this project with all of our force," he said. "If the county doesn't join us in stopping it, it's simply a declaration of nuclear war on the city."