Retail plan near Sharks Cove advances

The public has another opportunity to comment on a developer’s plan to build a “rural” retail complex on Oahu’s North Shore as part of a state environmental review.

Hanapohaku LLC, the developer of the project, designed with three buildings totaling 27,500 square feet of leasable space plus up to eight food trucks, published a draft environmental impact statement with the state last week.

Initial plans were described in a EIS preparation notice published in April.

The new document adds much more detail on the project, including an estimated $18 million cost, a traffic analysis and job projections. The draft EIS also presents another chance for residents to voice their opinions.

Hanapohaku, led by Andrew Yani, has caused a stir in the community over ongoing commercial uses of the 2.7-acre property across from Sharks Cove in Pupukea.

The city has fined the company for unpermitted food truck operations and construction, while community residents railed against a previous retail development plan that skirted public review and shoreline protection regulations.

According to the draft EIS, Hanapohaku obtained a special management area permit from the city in August to allow existing commercial uses to continue on the property.

Yani has said the new project aims to add retail businesses that primarily serve area residents so they don’t have to drive to Haleiwa or Laie and deal with increasingly bad traffic.

Types of businesses that could be tenants include a restaurant, pharmacy, medical clinic, bank, deli, copy shop, yoga studio, real estate office, child care center, art gallery, clothing store, surf shop and office space for a community organization, according to the draft EIS. Up to 86 full-time jobs would be created by the businesses, the developer estimates.

Critics, however, contend the project is aimed at tourists and is falsely being described as a “rural community commercial center” so it conforms to the North Shore Sustainable Communities Plan.

Under city regulations the site is zoned for “neighborhood business” use intended to allow “relatively small areas which serve the daily retail and other business needs of the surrounding population.”

Community organizations Malama Pupukea-Waimea and Save Sharks Cove Coalition contend that Hanapohaku’s claim that the project will cater to local residents is “an illusory promise.”

John Thielst, a 14-year Pupukea resident, said in a written comment, “The North shore is a rural area and does not need a development of this size and scale to serve the local residents.”

A draft traffic impact assessment estimates that the project will draw 1,322 more vehicles a day but won’t significantly degrade traffic in the immediate area. To accommodate customers, a new center lane for turning is proposed along Kamehameha Highway, and a new driveway shared with an adjacent Foodland store would be created.

“The rural center construction will not significantly impact traffic in the region,” the draft EIS states.

Hanapohaku will need a special management area “major” use permit that requires a public hearing. If all permits can be obtained, the developer projects that it could start construction in mid-2019 and finish in mid-2021.

The public may comment on the draft EIS until Jan. 8.

Comments should be sent to Ardis Shaw-Kim with the city Department of Planning and Permitting at ashaw@honolulu.gov with copies to Yani at hanapohakullc@gmail.com and consultant Jeff Overton at pupukea@g70.design.

More information, including the draft EIS, is available at 808ne.ws/2hWi9ht.