The Bellevue City Council has voted on where it wants light rail to run in South Bellevue, but a new transportation group wants Sound Transit to know that not all the city's residents agree with the latest recommendation.

The group, Citizens for Responsible Transit, includes residents of neighborhoods including Mercer Slough, Enatai, Somerset and Factoria. The members back a light-rail route along Bellevue Way Southeast and 112th Avenue Southeast that includes a station at the South Bellevue Park & Ride. The station will serve more neighborhoods and riders, said one of the organizers, Michael Marchand.

"We're just hoping to let Sound Transit know there's a large contingent of the community that feels the first selection was the correct one," said Marchand, who made an unsuccessful bid in November to unseat now-Mayor Don Davidson on the council.

The City Council and the Sound Transit board both supported a Bellevue Way route last year, but after two new councilmembers who supported an I-90 route known as B7 were elected in November, the council switched its recommendation. The council recently approved a letter to tell Sound Transit it preferred a route that would run east along I-90, swing north on the BNSF Railway, zooming past zoom condo buildings in the Mercer Slough neighborhood before slanting toward downtown.

The Sound Transit board makes the ultimate decision on light-rail routes, and has not indicated whether it will change its South Bellevue preference based on the Council's new position. The board is expected to consider Bellevue's downtown alignment, including a tunnel, in April and endorse a preliminary preferred alternative.

The new group, which includes Jannine McDonald, president of the Mercer Slough Neighborhood Association, formed because residents opposed to the I-90 route felt the Council didn't hear them during its South Bellevue discussion, Marchand said. They also were concerned that the Council was using up its political capital with Sound Transit by focusing on South Bellevue even though other problems, such as funding a tunnel downtown, still haven't been resolved.

Light-rail discussions also were getting divisive and pitting neighborhoods against one another, Marchand said. The new group plans to sit down with Surrey Downs representatives soon to talk about concerns like noise that affect all residents, he said. The residents of Surrey Downs, located just south of downtown, have been vocal in their opposition to the Bellevue Way route.

"There will be hard choices to be made, and there will be people who may be happy with the outcome or people who may not be," Marchand said. "It's got to be something that serves our commuters, our shoppers, our businesses and all residents alike."