A rezoning plan for the "Live Work Play ‘Aiea" mixed-used development project at the former Kam Drive-In in Aiea received positive testimony before the City Council Zoning and Planning Committee on Thursday but will have to wait a month to advance.
Council Zoning Chairman Ikaika Anderson said he wants a development agreement between city planning officials and developer Robertson Properties Group, the first of its kind, to be forwarded to the Council before moving Bill 68 out of his committee.
The development agreement will "lock in" the zoning laws with which the developer must comply. In exchange, Robertson Properties is promising specific infrastructure improvements and other public benefits beyond what would typically be required under a standard unilateral agreement that is subject to changes.
The public will have a chance to testify on the planned development agreement at a Department of Planning and Permitting public hearing Tuesday at 9 a.m. Details of the development agreement are online at bit.ly/1ePjr6p.
"The development agreement between the developer, the department and the community is a very critical component of this application for a rezone," Anderson said. It will "spell out precisely what types of concessions and agreements the developer will agree to and ultimately adhere to."
Planned for the 15-acre site across Kaonohi Street from Pearlridge Center are 1,500 units in five buildings — two with a maximum height of 150 feet, and one each with maximum heights of 350, 300 and 250 feet.
The current height limit is 60 feet.
The site of the old Kam Drive-In, which closed in 1998, is used for a swap meet three times a week.
One of the buildings could be a hotel. Also planned are a multitude of office and commercial spaces, including a major supermarket.
More than two dozen people testified in favor of the project.
Aiea resident Gary Goodrich said his family has lived in the area for four decades and that the project would offer amenities that would keep him from having to commute downtown.
"I realize that Aiea is an older neighborhood and that change is hard for some people, but if we’re going to change, it might as well be something that is well planned," he said.
Many of those offering their support, some of them Aiea-Pearl City Realtors, cited a pent-up demand for residential properties across the price spectrum in the area.
Realtor Kendra Okihiro, an Aiea resident, said "a lot of the clients that we work with have a huge desire and need to be no further than Pearl City, is what they’re going to tell you. Especially if they work in town, they do not want to drive or live further."
Older residents in the area want to downsize while living in the area but are finding a shortage of condos.
Robertson officials pointed to statistics showing a shortage of 30,000 housing units on Oahu today that will grow to 75,000 units in 2035.
While no one at Thursday’s meeting opposed the project, critics previously have complained about additional traffic that would be caused, as well as the possible loss of view planes.
John Manavian, Robertson Properties vice president, said the developer has pledged several million dollars and an acre of its property to widen both Kaonohi Street and Moanalua Road, as well as provide a new main street that would cross from one side of the project to the other.
The property’s current zoning would have allowed for what in essence would be an expansion of "the regional mall" across the street, Manavian said.
"There have been major tenants knocking down our door," he said.
Such a project would likely result in 30 to 40 percent more traffic for the area than what Robertson is now proposing, he said.
The project is a quarter-mile from the planned transit-oriented development area for Aiea’s major rail line stop. The East Kapolei-Aloha Stadium segment of the city’s $5.26 billion rail line is slated to be done by 2017.
Councilman Breene Harimoto, who represents the region, said the mixed-use project "sets a bar for the future of development along the rail line."
