City officials consider Hoopili rezoning plan

The long-anticipated rezoning request for the huge Hoopili project in West Oahu was submitted to the city Department of Planning and Permitting this month.

Project plans call for up to 11,750 homes on 1,289 acres of agricultural land surrounded by Kapolei, Ewa, Waipahu and Kunia. The Hoopili master plan also proposes 3 million square feet of commercial space, five schools and 159 acres of commercial farms.

Hoopili’s sheer size makes it one of the biggest rezoning applications to go before the city. The 11,750 homes proposed are more than three times what the City Council approved last year for the 3,500-unit first phase of Castle & Cooke’s Koa Ridge project in Central Oahu.

The state Land Use Commission reclassified the lands under Hoopili for urban use in June 2012 after a contentious hearing process.

D.R. Horton Vice President Cameron Nekota said the zoning application was delayed because the developer only recently received approval from the last of three agencies for an LUC-required traffic study.

Proponents are expected to argue for the need for jobs and new home inventory to help deal with Oahu’s housing shortage.

But Hoopili opponents that include environmental interests such as the Sierra Club Hawaii chapter object to the loss of the longtime home of Aloun Farms and other prime agricultural lands. Residents in neighboring communities, meanwhile, have raised concerns about the project’s impacts on traffic along the busy H-1 freeway corridor.

A Sierra Club appeal of the LUC decision is pending before the Hawaii Supreme Court.

The developer has sought to blunt the opposition. When the LUC required that 159 acres needed to be certified for farming by the Department of Agriculture, D.R. Horton submitted a plan with 203.5 acres of farm land. The developer has argued that the number of cars will be lessened because a major transit station for the city’s upcoming rail project lies in the middle of Hoopili, while other job opportunities are nearby at the University of Hawaii-West Oahu campus and burgeoning Kapolei.

Planning Director George Atta now has 90 days to review the application and submit a recommendation to the city Planning Commission. The City Council will have the final say on the rezoning.