A devil’s bargain is, indeed, a bargain on its face, but an inherently bad one nonetheless.

Fraught with false choices and empty promises, it seeks to surprise and fool even the most astute and well-intentioned of souls.

The most surprising thing about the draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) recently released by Turtle Bay Resort isn’t the thousand-plus page document compiled by the resort development team. Nor is it the various options the draft presents for consideration by the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting.

It is what developers have not taken off the table and removed from consideration that raises most eyebrows and leaves residents of Koolauloa and the North Shore scratching their heads.

While resort representatives have repeatedly acknowledged overwhelming resident and visitor opposition to development at Turtle Bay, and have (to their credit) proposed options that would "scale down" resort expansion, the fact remains that the resort owners’ current "preferred" plans still take the scope of the project well outside the footprint of existing development at the resort.

According to this draft, a sprawling mega-resort encompassing the entire property from Kawela Bay to Kahuku Point is still a very real possibility. This is unacceptable given the history of the resort and numerous other development pressures affecting rural Oahu. Though the plan’s impacts on the property have been "mitigated" by the developer, this process should not be conducted in a vacuum.

The new "preferred plan" heralded by the resort claims it would reduce density by 60 percent from what was proposed in 1985. It is important to remember, however, that the plan in 1985 called for five additional hotels and 1,000 condominiums, something considered laughable today (yet not so laughable that current resort owners would remove the outdated option from this plan and therefore from consideration by willing developers of the future).

It is also worth noting that this "preferred plan" would constitute a 300 percent increase from what is already at the resort. Community leaders fear the subdivision approval that comes with DPP acceptance of the SEIS would open the door to new developers eager to maximize profits and unhindered by past promises.

The court-ordered SEIS is the latest step in an ongoing battle that began with an ill-fated Unilateral Agreement between the City and County of Honolulu and the then-developer more than 27 years ago. Recently, the owners of the hotel have rolled out a slick new website for the SEIS to promote their new invention aimed at selling the development to locals: "Tomorrow’s Ahupua‘a" (the 21st century version evidently includes valet parking lots). A sewage spill by the resort into the ocean in August that resulted in the closures of Kuilima and Kawela beaches, however, served to remind residents of the dangers inherent in pushing too hard on the aina.

This event, if any, should refocus planners on the real-world consequences that development has on our finite natural resources and interconnected island ecosystem. A traditional ahupua‘a does not compromise environmental responsibilities for the "needs" of offshore investors. A real ahupua‘a is sustainable.

While the moral onus is on the owners of this resort to seriously consider alternatives to the types of massive development proposals that have threatened communities in Koolauloa and the North Shore for dec-ades, it is our responsibility as community stakeholders to ask tough questions and voice concerns while the process is under way. Likewise, city and state officials must take an active role in carefully reviewing the draft SEIS and driving preservation efforts that run with the life of the land.

Perhaps the most important issue we can all address is the elephant in the room: How would the different developments being proposed in this document contribute to the overall urbanization of this rural area? More important, what would the cumulative effects of these developments be when placed in the context of the multitude of other development schemes being proposed throughout Koolauloa and the North Shore?

To try and mitigate our way into the future while ignoring these crucial questions serves only as a supplement to an attitude toward development that is as antiquated as it is unsustainable. Community acceptance of any action at Turtle Bay Resort hinges on the answers.