Vote on divisive Laie hotel on hold

The City Council postponed considering plans for a 223-room hotel next to the Polynesian Cultural Center on Wednesday, but heard testimony from supporters and critics that revealed the division over both the hotel and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ much larger development plans around Laie.

Even though the Council delayed consideration of the church’s Courtyard by Marriott hotel project until Sept. 16, dozens of people testified for and against the project, many of them wearing powder blue T-shirts that have come to represent support for the church’s much larger Envision Laie project that has yet to go before the Council.

The issue before the Council on Wednesday was whether to grant a special management area use permit to allow construction of the Courtyard by Marriott in heights of one, three and four stories on the site of the old 49-unit Laie Inn that was razed in 2009.

The hotel project would include a swimming pool, restaurant and banquet facilities on 9.84 acres — along with a bike path and crosswalk to get to the beach on the other side of Kamehameha Highway.

The Courtyard by Marriott would create 125 jobs — 75 that would be used as part-time training positions for BYUH’s hospitality program. The other 25 full-time and 25 part-time openings would be available to anyone in the community, church officials have said.

Supporters told Council members on Wednesday that the hotel would create jobs for local residents and make it easier for out-of-town visitors who want to attend functions at Kahuku High School, Brigham Young University-Hawaii and the church’s Polynesian Cultural Center.

Instead of generating more traffic along Kamehameha Highway, many said, the hotel might actually reduce congestion on the busy two-lane highway.

"Many in our community make the long commute into Honolulu or other places for work," said Delsa Moe, who wore a powder blue T-shirt. "The jobs that this hotel can provide will be able to allow that many more people to remain at home or closer to home and be off the roads and be able to spend more quality time with their families."

BYU-Hawaii President Steven Wheelwright told the Council that the Courtyard by Marriott will help make it easier for people visiting the area by charging room rates that are a third cheaper than the nearby Turtle Bay Resort.

And Michael Hawes, a field representative for the Hawaii Carpenters Union, said construction of the Courtyard by Marriott will create badly needed construction work.

As a Kailua resident who enjoys the Polynesian Cultural Center’s evening performances, Hawes said the hotel "definitely has the possibility to take cars off the road."

But opponents criticized both the Courtyard by Marriott and the church’s much larger Envision Laie plans, which would require rezoning church-owned agricultural land for shops, churches and 875 new condos, townhouses and single-family homes around Malaekahana to expand BYUH’s 2,400-student population to 5,000 students.

Andrea Anixt referred to the church’s much larger Envision Laie project as "Invasion Laie."

"It’ll ruin the entire character of the area," Anixt said.

Dotty Kelly-Paddock, a member of the Koolauloa Neighborhood Board, urged Council members to carefully review both projects, with special consideration of potential flooding problems in the area.

"Please don’t let the number of blue shirts in the room make you think that the people of Koolauloa support this proposal," she said. "This is overkill."