A framework for how to use 36.5 acres of mostly vacant state land next to Kewalo Basin in Kakaako has finally been shaped after nearly three years of work by state planners and the public.

The plan will be unveiled and explained Oct. 28 during a two-hour workshop at the Hawai’i Convention Center, and later posted at hcdaweb.org online.

Residents may comment on the plan, and their reactions and criticism will be attached to the final document.

Then directors of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the agency that guides redevelopment of land in Kakaako, will decide whether to adopt the plan and pursue development opportunities that conform to the framework.

An agency board meeting is scheduled for Dec. 1 to consider the plan.

The plan will not specifically prescribe what should be built where, but will include a range of elements that are desirable and feasible for parts of the former industrial waterfront area adjacent to Kakaako Waterfront Park.

Cost assessments are also included to help determine what can be built.

"This should not end up as a coffee-table plan," said Anthony Ching, agency director. "It should serve as a basis for implementation" of development.

The master-planning effort has been a long, slow process created at the direction of the Legislature in the wake of a failed development plan the agency pursued that was heavily weighted toward residential use.

That earlier plan involved a mix of high-rise condominiums, retail and public attractions proposed by Alexander & Baldwin Inc. in response to a request for proposals. A&B canceled its project in 2006 after public outcry and legislative intervention.

The agency formed a 50-member community advisory council in 2007, and approved spending $600,000 last year to create a master plan for the land.

Planning firm MVE Pacific was retained to help produce the plan using information from several public workshops, the advisory council and agency planners.

The advisory council produced a set of guiding principles for the area that include expanding shoreline parks, preserving open view planes, establishing a shoreline promenade and including cultural facilities such as museums and a community center.

Some restaurants, cafes and small shops are also part of the group’s vision to complement public facilities. The Legislature prohibited residential uses.

The public also had opportunities online and at a series of workshops to make plan suggestions.

Last month during a weeklong open house, the agency showcased a collection of plan ideas sorted by themes such as park expansion, education and historic preservation. About 80 people attended the open house.

Michelle Matson, a community advisory panel member who has been an outspoken critic of the agency and at times questioned its devotion to community-based planning, has a positive view of the plan’s evolution.

"We have a pretty good feeling that it’s going in the right direction now," she said at a meeting last week at which the plan was discussed.

Ching anticipates that development will begin with park improvements and expansion, and that what arises from the plan will be a low-density landscape that, within cost restraints, reflects what most people said they want.