Conceptual plans showing how Honolulu’s rail project could extend beyond Ala Moana Center to the University of Hawaii in Manoa suggest that any future extension could tremendously alter the shopping center and other properties in the Kapiolani district.

Transit officials last week presented five conceptual plans to the City Council’s Planning and Transportation Committee, stressing repeatedly that they have no authority or funding to study beyond the conceptual stage as a way to keep open as many post- Ala Moana extension options as possible.

“We do not have a mandate to do full extension planning,” Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Executive Director and CEO Andrew Robbins told committee members Tuesday. “That would require a full alternatives analysis, environmental planning and so forth. What we have done … are concepts that you can consider for corridor preservation for future extensions.”

The HART board of directors in November authorized Robbins and his staff to ask the Council for the OK to “conduct planning and engineering activities, and acquire the right-of-way” that would allow development “at a future date” for a previously approved plan with spurs to UH and Waikiki.

Abbey Mayer, HART director of planning, permitting and right of way, said four of the five concepts are compatible with the Ala Moana platform station that is already part of the formal Environmental Impact Statement and Locally Preferred Alternative plan.

The current EIS/LPA plan (Concept 1) calls for the Ala Moana station to be elevated about 30 feet above Kona Street just west of the Kona Iki Street intersection. The concept does not really call for an extension of the existing guideway, but for a second track that would head toward UH running east above Kona Street at an elevation of about 90 feet, Mayer said. People would need to get off the East Kapolei-Ala Moana train, then ride an elevator to board a second train to UH.

The extra height is needed for the second track to “get high enough to go over what is currently part of the Target wing of Ala Moana and the arms of Ala Moana mall that connect Center Court to Target,” Mayer said. The track would continue along Kona and at some point cross over onto Atkinson Drive.

The route also runs through SamKoo Pacific’s Kapiolani Residence project, some commercial buildings and the Manaolana tower at Kapiolani Boulevard and Atkinson, all of which are under construction, Mayer said. Those kind of projects would present obstacles toward achieving what’s listed in the current LPA, he said.

A second Kona option (Concept 2) would continue the East Kapolei-Ala Moana guideway along the same route, but eliminate the need to jump onto a second train. Such a plan, however, would require the expanded line to travel roughly at the same 30-foot elevation of guideway along a much narrower section of Kona and Mahukona streets.

“We would have some very rough future impacts, so the Ala Moana Building parking structure is potentially impacted, parts of the Target building and the connectors from Center Court of the mall, two levels of shops would likely have to be demolished,” Mayer said. Additionally, the Ala Moana Center parking structure as well as the ramps from the structure to Kona Street “would likely be impacted,” as would the pedestrian bridge from the Ala Moana Pacific Building into the mall parking lot.

Parts of the Manaolana project “may also be in conflict” and there also could be impacts to lanes along Atkinson and to commercial buildings at Kapiolani and Kalakaua Avenue, Mayer said.

“So we have the possibility of continuing down Kona, but it is an impact-heavy route,” Mayer said.

Asked later by the committee for clarification on how Ala Moana Center would be affected, he said “just plowing through would be the clearest way to say it; we’re at a 30-foot elevation and you want a one-seat ride.”

Veering away

A third Makai option (Concept 3) is similar to the second and would affect roughly the same portions of Ala Moana Center. Additionally, however, it would continue along Kona for a bit and then veer makai toward the mall’s parking structure near Macy’s, “likely impacting a great portion of that parking structure itself before coming out onto Atkinson,” he said.

The Mauka option (Concept 4) would veer away from Kona sooner and take it onto a SamKoo property at 1391 Kapiolani, the site of a planned residential tower with affordable units. The concept also would require a shift of the existing location of the Ala Moana station platform 100 to 150 feet in the Ewa direction, Mayer said. From there it would cut across the SamKoo location, bounded by Kona, Kona Iki and Kapiolani, on its way toward Kapiolani and possibly Keeaumoku Street.

The shifting of the station platform would require new approvals from the Federal Transit Administration because the station’s current location prevents the track from making a proper left turn, he said. “The trains have to come out of the station and fully clear the station platform before starting to turn.”

A fifth Piikoi option (Concept 5) was requested by the Council, and calls for “a two-seat ride,” or transfer to a second line, heading north at Piikoi or somewhere else nearby, thus bypassing most of Kona Street. It is most vaguely outlined and leaves completely open the route a second line would take toward UH.

As with Concept 1, which also requires a second line for a “two-seat ride,” a separate shorter “maintenance” track would be necessary to move trains from the main line to the UH track when needed. That third track would avoid the need for a separate maintenance and storage facility for what essentially would be just a five-stop line to UH, Mayer said.

Such a facility would need about 40 acres somewhere between Ala Moana and UH. “Finding 40 acres in an urbanized residential area is not a very compatible land use and the price tag would be massive,” he said.

Council members said they were baffled by the complexities involved with the Ala Moana rail station and the possible routes to UH.

Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi said voters who supported the project in a 2008 amendment to the Honolulu City Charter expected a route that would go from Kapolei to Ala Moana and even Waikiki. “I don’t know why there’s no planning,” she said.

Kobayashi questioned how the city Department of Planning and Permitting allowed for development approvals for the Manaolana project to be processed and then later approved by the Council.

“Planning for such a huge project you’d think would be pretty much done,” Kobayashi said. The delays have created a series of empty lots along the Kapiolani corridor, she said. “We look like a Third World country with all those empty lots.”

Mayer, who joined HART about a year ago, said he and others at HART share the Council’s frustration.

“The only thing I can say is that it appears the majority of the focus has been in getting to Ala Moana,” he said. As a result, discussion of corridor preservation and a later full alternatives analysis of a possible extension haven’t been done yet, Mayer said.

‘Difficult position’

Council Planning Chairman Ikaika Anderson said that while he and his colleagues may not yet have approved money for planning or alignment of a Manoa extension, HART doesn’t need additional funding to design the Ala Moana station in such a manner that it would allow different extension scenarios to UH.

He said if it would help the situation, he would introduce a resolution “making it clear to HART that we want the Ala Moana station located and designed so that it can reach Manoa.”

Robbins told Anderson that four of the five concepts presented would be possible under the current location and design of the Ala Moana station, “given that there are significant impacts with many of them.”

Councilwoman Carol Fukunaga questioned why the city Department of Planning and Permitting began working on an Ala Moana Transit Oriented Development plan when there was still uncertainty about where the final station would be.

“It just seems as though the way we’re proceeding now is so chaotic it kind of creates greater pressures both for the city as well as the individual property owners, not to mention it places HART in a very difficult position because many of the alternatives may be foreclosed by specific developments that get approved,” she said.

Kona Street is a privately owned roadway tied to Ala Moana Center, which is owned by General Growth Properties, so practically any extension would affect Hawaii’s largest shopping mall.

Francis Cofran, Ala Moana senior general manager, attended last week’s meeting and urged the committee to consider allowing full-service hotels at the mall within the city’s Ala Moana Transit Oriented Development plan. When asked by Anderson about a possible rail extension, Cofran expressed support for “the current plan.” Cofran could not be reached Friday to elaborate on which specific scenario he favors.

Jared Watumull, vice president of Watumull Properties, which owns the parcel where the the station is now proposed to be located, said the plan came as a surprise to his company.

“In our minds, it doesn’t make sense to place the station mid-block, displacing 15 tenants, some who’ve spent multiple years looking for locations who I don’t think can get relocated in the city center,” Watumull said. “We’re displacing people there.”

Watumull said he also wants to know where the city intends to get the money to purchase the parcel and relocate those being displaced.

Tim Yi, SamKoo president, attended Tuesday’s meeting but did not testify. On Friday, Yi told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser that his company bought its Kona Street parcel 10 years ago and waited five years to be told how the rail project would affect his property. Negotiations with the city then ensued for about two years, Yi said.

SamKoo spent $3 million in studies to become the area’s first Transit Oriented Development project but decided not to continue “because there were too much demands from different agencies,” Yi said.

As a result, SamKoo shifted gears to work first on its Kapiolani Residence project. At this point, SamKoo can’t wait any longer and is proceeding with plans to gain approvals for the second location, Yi said.