Delicate balance for Turtle Bay

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Nov 28, 2012

~~<p>Given all the present concern about traffic among many residents of the North Shore, it's hard to conceive how much development the City Council approved at Turtle Bay Resort, through a unilateral agreement with the landowners at the time, back in 1985. The fact that the entitlements bound the city, despite changes in conditions over the years that the project languished, fueled a community controversy that still persists.</p>
<p>But now, a court-ordered supplement to the project's environmental impact statement has been drafted, bringing all the studies up to date and largely clearing the last major legal hurdle blocking the start of the expansion. The project, comprising two hotels with 625 units and 750 residences on the 880-acre North Shore property, represents about a 60 percent reduction in density originally proposed. As presented this week, the development plan offers considerable accommodation of public access to this prized stretch of coastline.</p>
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Given all the present concern about traffic among many residents of the North Shore, it's hard to conceive how much development the City Council approved at Turtle Bay Resort, through a unilateral agreement with the landowners at the time, back in 1985. The fact that the entitlements bound the city, despite changes in conditions over the years that the project languished, fueled a community controversy that still persists.

But now, a court-ordered supplement to the project's environmental impact statement has been drafted, bringing all the studies up to date and largely clearing the last major legal hurdle blocking the start of the expansion. The project, comprising two hotels with 625 units and 750 residences on the 880-acre North Shore property, represents about a 60 percent reduction in density originally proposed. As presented this week, the development plan offers considerable accommodation of public access to this prized stretch of coastline. Login for more...