Turtle Bay deal fails to sway opposition

Praise and appreciation reverberated throughout Oahu’s North Shore community following an agreement to protect more than 600 acres at Turtle Bay Resort from residential development. However, three groups opposing expansion of the resort say the agreement announced Thursday doesn’t resolve their pending legal actions over development.

Defend Oahu Coalition, Keep the North Shore Country and Unite Here! Local 5 called the preservation agreement positive but said they will continue to fight the resort’s expansion plan, which still includes two more hotels.

"Defend Oahu Coalition remains committed to conserving the entire coastline at Turtle Bay," the group said in a statement Friday. "We see much more light at the end of the tunnel than before this milestone (the preservation agreement) and will remain steadfast in reaching our destination."

The coalition petitioned the state Land Use Commission in June to reverse a 1986 approval to expand the resort by 236 acres for a golf course and 1,000 condominiums. The commission in November deferred action to wait for a possible preservation deal.

Though Thursday’s agreement would preserve the 236 acres from residential development and maintain the golf course, Defend Oahu said that doesn’t mean it will withdraw its case. "There is more land to be conserved," the group said.

Another group, Keep the North Shore Country, filed a lawsuit against the resort and the city in December alleging that a supplemental environmental impact statement accepted by the city for resort expansion was deficient.

Gil Riviere, the organization’s president, said Friday that the preservation agreement helps mitigate what he calls a mistake made in the 1980s approving the resort’s expansion, though the lawsuit will proceed.

One claim in the suit is that the environmental study isn’t specific about what kind of hotel and residential units will be built.

The study said hotel units may be operated as time shares, condos or traditional-service hotels, while the homes would be a combination of multifamily and single-family units.

Riviere said there could be significant differences in the number of cars and visitors associated with the different kinds of units built.

The lawsuit also claims that the study fails to evaluate the alternative of no expansion and doesn’t evaluate cumulative traffic impacts and impact on wetlands, environmental water quality and threatened and endangered species.

Turtle Bay contends that it appropriately addressed all issues raised by hundreds of parties who commented on the study before it was finalized and accepted by the city Department of Planning and Permitting in October.

Local 5, the union representing Turtle Bay hotel workers, filed a lawsuit similar to the one by Keep the North Shore Country.

Like the other two groups, the union endorses the preservation agreement but won’t drop its legal action.

Local 5, which is concerned that condo-hotel units and time shares don’t provide as many jobs as full-service hotels, said it will continue to contest what it calls "wrong-headed claims" by Turtle Bay about the number and quality of jobs contemplated in its expansion plan.

"The (preservation agreement) does not resolve the vitally important issue of protecting and maintaining quality jobs for North Shore residents," the union said in a statement distributed Thursday in the office of Gov. Neil Abercrombie moments after the governor and other officials announced the preservation accord with Turtle Bay.

Under the preservation agreement, 665.8 acres comprising 70 acres fronting Kawela Bay and about 600 acres largely occupied by Turtle Bay’s two golf courses will be barred from development in perpetuity. That effectively eliminates 650 homes from the resort’s expansion plan, including 225 previously slated to front Kawela Bay.

The area to be preserved includes trails and two planned oceanfront parks at Kawela Bay and Kahuku Point for public use.

Turtle Bay will still own and maintain the preservation area but will be paid $48.5 million for protecting the land under an easement. The cost of the easement will be shared by the state ($40 million), the city ($5 million) and the nonprofit Trust for Public Land ($3.5 million).

The resort still intends to develop two hotels with a combined 625 rooms and 100 homes on about 150 acres fronting the ocean on opposing sides of the existing 443-room Turtle Bay hotel.

Some people involved with the preservation agreement have said they hope that another easement can be negotiated to prohibit any expansion of the resort, though resort officials intend to move ahead with development expected to begin with an initial hotel that could break ground in about two years.