Rail transit-oriented development better for Kapolei than Kakaako

A recent Star-Advertiser article stressed how Kaka-ako will be built up with high-rise buildings that exceed height limitations but will be close to rail stations.

The Hawaii Community Development Authority’s goals for residential and commercial enterprises in the area offer — to HCDA — ”the best opportunities for redeveloping under transit-oriented development rules.”

This is the right concept being designed for the wrong place, as far as rail is concerned.

Area neighborhoods will provide many aspects of

urban life within walking distance. Many residences will be affordable, meaning occupancy by workers and students.

From Kakaako, they are likely to work, shop, dine and go to school within a few miles of where they live (i.e., the financial and government districts of Hono-lulu, Ala Moana Center and Waikiki, and the University of Hawaii-Manoa).

Has anybody noticed that rail will accommodate only those needs for this (so-called) TOD district for a mile or so? Obviously, anyone heading in either direction will use TheBus rather than ride rail for a station or two and then transfer to a bus. Perhaps a single-digit percentage of potential new Kakaako residents will want to live there while commuting to jobs and schools west of Iwilei, meaning not much of an increase in rail ridership.

What high-rise development in Kakaako really means is greater-than-planned profits for developers.

State and city planners want Kakaako to absorb the vast majority of resident growth in town, with some growth in Aiea-Pearl City, a more logical area for TOD. They seem to be satisfied with continued suburban sprawl on the Ewa Plain — as characterized by a change in the Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) draft of the Ewa Development Plan from “high-rise residential” development near the two westernmost rail stations to “medium-rise” in the latest version. Rather than apply the TOD experts’ concept of “verticality” in an area targeted for an increase of 100,000-plus residents, they apply it where bus transit will suffice.

Even the Sierra Club’s

director, Robert Harris, who stated he wants to save agricultural land, seems unaware of how high-rise residences could save many acres of arable land in the Ho‘opili and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands developments in East Kapolei.

Properly applied TOD principles make a great deal of sense for Ewa, particularly if anybody in government is interested in making rail a success.

Those concepts also could convert Kapolei into a real “second city” rather than an expanded “primary suburb.” Several years ago, UH architecture students presented youthful visions of East Kapolei as a city centered on transit, with “zones” emphasizing arts, ethnic dining, entertainment and a university environment, i.e., for UH-West Oahu. Apparently, none of them were hired by DPP, which does not even agree with some of the medium-rise plans for the DHHL-DeBartolo mall site near the first rail station.

Kapolei developers claim that a new job will be created for every residence built. Since virtually every home has two (or more) wage earners, that also “translates” to one more commuter on the road into town. City studies show a huge increase in road commuting times by 2030, so every effort must be made to increase rail ridership.

Will residents beyond the transit-influence zone use bus feeders to rail stations, or will they drive? The best inducement for rail use is being able to walk to stations, and the best way to achieve that is high-rise residential development.

If location matters, such housing in Ewa will be more affordable than in Kakaako. Many dwellers will actually have ocean views, an amenity lacking for residents of the Villages of Kapolei on the flat plain.

So call it “bus TOD” in Kakaako, but somebody needs to plan for “rail TOD” in East Kapolei.