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Kamehameha Schools and Foodland Super Market say they have lots of community support to develop a new shopping center in Hawaii Kai, but many people turned out at a meeting Thursday night to say they don’t like the plan envisioned for preservation-zoned land at the entry of the community.
More than 200 people filled the Kamiloiki Elementary School cafeteria and loudly denounced the idea for the project that Kamehameha Schools floated last year.
Kamehameha Schools officials told the audience that a telephone poll of Hawaii Kai residents found overwhelming support for the plan.
Kathy Fujihara-Chong, president of OmniTrak, which conducted the poll in June and July, said 72 percent of 384 people contacted expressed support.
Roger Wall, Foodland’s vice chairman, said the company, which opened the first supermarket in Hawaii Kai in 1963, doesn’t need a poll to know that residents want a replacement for that store that closed in 2011 because of difficult lease negotiations with Koko Marina Center.
But the audience at the meeting overwhelmingly said the open 4.5-acre parcel isn’t the place to do it.
The meeting was organized by state Rep. Gene Ward (R, Kalama Valley-Queen’s Gate-Hawaii Kai), who said he wanted clarity on community sentiments about the plan.
Kamehameha Schools said it intends to meet further with community members and that if the project moves forward, it would be years away.
The concept would include restaurants, a park, a dog park and a pedestrian promenade along the marina front.
A zoning change would be required to develop the site.
Kamehameha Schools came up with the idea of building a new shopping center in the community about a year ago, polling area residents by phone about their desire to have Foodland as well as other retailers and restaurants at the site.
Foodland closed its store at nearby Koko Marina Center in 2011 after the mall’s owner said it couldn’t agree on new lease terms with Foodland. The kamaaina family-owned chain had been at the mall for 48 years. Walgreens and Petco now occupy the space.
Since then there has been only one grocery store, Safeway, serving the community, which is one of Oahu’s largest. Hawaii Kai also has a Costco.
By contrast, Mililani, which has about the same number of homes as Hawaii Kai, has three grocery stores — Safeway, Foodland and Times — plus Walmart.
The nearest grocery store outside of Hawaii Kai is an upscale-format Foodland Farms store about three miles away in Aina Haina which the retailer converted from a traditional Foodland in 2010.
Foodland has said it wants to replace its lost Hawaii Kai store, but area residents are divided over whether the strip of land being considered should be developed.
The 4.5-acre parcel is zoned for preservation use but once was slated for commercial development as part of 14 acres fronting the Hawaii Kai marina, Kalanianaole Highway and Keahole Street.
As part of litigation over development rights in Hawaii Kai among the city, Kamehameha Schools and developers, the 14 acres of preservation-zoned land was slated for up to 192,000 square feet of retail and office space, according to a 1996 environmental impact report prepared for the city as part of a proposed settlement.
It’s unclear whether the proposed settlement led to any land-use approvals for the site and neighboring parcels.
However, a few of the other parcels formerly zoned for agriculture or preservation have since been developed with homes.
The 14 acres include a city-owned dog park and park-and-ride facility that Kamehameha Schools may have the option of relocating, a vacant parcel across from Costco owned by the trust and four acres owned by the Hawaii Kai Marina Community Association designated for a yacht club.
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