New state Land Use Commission hearings began Thursday over the controversial plan to build 11,750 homes on prime farmland on Oahu’s Ewa Plain.
The hearing restarted an effort by the local Schuler Division of Texas-based developer D.R. Horton to urbanize 1,554 acres after a two-year hiatus. Schuler needs approval from six of the nine commissioners before moving ahead with the development.
Major issues tied to the project — homes versus food security and jobs versus traffic — are the same, but forces fighting for and against the estimated $4.6 billion project appear to have intensified since Schuler’s petition to urbanize the property ran into trouble at the LUC in 2009.
About 30 people testified before Schuler began presenting its case to commissioners Thursday. The testimony was near evenly split among supporters and opponents.
Several supporters in the construction industry who testified urged commissioners to think about the jobs Ho’opili would create.
Sam Kalilikane, a carpenter, told commissioners that he and 2,000 fellow Hawaii carpenters are unemployed. "I been out of work for two years," he said. "We get hard time for pay our bills. We really need this project. We really need jobs."
Opponents said highly productive farmland in active cultivation should not be forever removed from agriculture just to create jobs.
"The land is not a resource to be mined for short-term jobs," testified Anthony Aalto, a Sierra Club Oahu Chapter officer. "Construction should not be driving the economy. That is the tail wagging the dog."
Some of the sharpest challenges to Ho’opili at yesterday’s hearing were made by Eric Seitz, an attorney representing state Sen. Clayton Hee, who is participating in the hearing with the ability to question testifiers and introduce and cross-examine expert witnesses.
Seitz asked Kalilikane whether he would support a project to build homes in Kapiolani Park if it provided him work.
"If it’s a union job, I would support it," Kalilikane said.
"Thank you," replied Seitz.
Other clashes appeared between views held by legislators who offered opposing testimonies yesterday.
State Rep. Rida Cabanilla (D, Waipahu-Ewa) testified against Ho’opili, saying development should be concentrated in Honolulu’s urban core.
State Rep. Kimberly Pine (R, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point) backs Ho’opili. She said city and state leaders decided decades ago that the area should be part of a secondary urban center to Honolulu — part of the vision for greater Kapolei to become Oahu’s "Second City."
Schuler officials have said that the Ho’opili site roughly bordered by the H-1 freeway, Ewa Villages, Fort Weaver Road and Kualakai Parkway is appropriate for development because it’s within the city’s urban growth boundary devised to accommodate population growth and preserve farmland elsewhere from development.
In addition, three development projects — the University of Hawaii-West Oahu, a Salvation Army Kroc Center and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands subdivisions — are under construction on land adjacent to or near the Ho’opili site. Representatives of UH and the Salvation Army testified Thursday in support of Ho’opili.
But Aliitasi Ponder, a member of the Defend Oahu Coalition, criticized the urban growth boundary as being outdated and not addressing what many people now see as a serious vulnerability of Oahu: not producing enough food for local consumption.
"When the variables change, you change the plan," she said. "There are more places to build houses than to grow our food."
Vernon Ta’a, a 20-year Kapolei resident, expressed a different view, saying he places more value on his five children and 15 grandchildren having an opportunity to live in the area.
"If there is a choice between some cabbage growing in Kapolei and my children, that’s not a choice for me," he said. "I truly believe Ho’opili is not critical to the survival of agriculture in Hawaii."
Most of the Ho’opili site is leased to Aloun Farms, which farms about 1,100 acres and is the second-largest diversified fruit and vegetable farm in the state.
Schuler officials said they are discussing relocation options for Aloun but have not committed to arranging replacement land for Aloun.
Seitz wondered why no one at Aloun has ever publicly commented on the project, and said he understands the company is prevented by terms in its lease with Schuler from expressing views on Ho’opili.
Seitz asked Schuler’s vice president overseeing Ho’opili, Cameron Nekota, if that was so.
Nekota declined to say. "I’m not going to get into the details of their lease," he said.
Nekota said Schuler and Aloun are bound by confidentiality agreements and that the lease terms were set by prior landowner, Campbell Estate, which leased the property to Aloun with the understanding that the land was intended for development.
Aloun’s displacement was one reason the state Department of Agriculture raised concerns about Ho’opili previously, though others involved in farming such as the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation back Ho’opili.
Schuler, partly in response to Agriculture Department concerns, refined its plan since it was originally presented to the LUC in 2007.
Among changes the developer announced in May were plans for a 5-megawatt solar power plant and 251 acres within the community for commercial farming, community gardens and home gardens.
Judging the merits of the proposal will be three new commissioners appointed since Schuler’s initial petition to urbanize the site was rejected over a failure to property divide the project into phases.
Commissioners in 2009 did not vote on the merits of whether the site should be urbanized.
Other parties besides Hee participating in the renewed hearing and attempting to prevent approval of Ho’opili are community organization Friends of Makakilo, led by Kioni Dudley, and the Sierra Club.
The hearing is scheduled to resume today and continue a couple of days every month over the next few months before the commissioners vote. The full process could take six months to a year.
