City panel to take up Hoopili proposal

The contentious Hoopili development project that could bring as many as 11,750 new homes to the Ewa plain comes before the Honolulu Planning Commission on Wednesday.

The sheer size of the 1,553-acre site, of which D.R. Horton-Schuler Homes Hawaii intends to develop 1,269 acres, makes Hoopili one of the biggest rezoning applications to go before the city. It is more than three times what the Council approved last year for the 3,500-unit first phase of Castle & Cooke’s Koa Ridge project in Central Oahu.

The Hoopili site sits on existing agricultural land between Kapolei and the University of Hawaii-West Oahu campus on one side, Waipahu on the other.

Billed as a mixed-use community, Horton is proposing that 9,463 of the residential units — more than 80 percent — be rezoned from agricultural to districts that are either community business mixed-use, medium density mixed-use apartment, or medium-density apartment. Only  2,287 of the units would be in a traditional residential district. 

Supporters say the project will bring much-needed homes and help alleviate Oahu’s housing shortage while providing significant jobs for the construction and trade industries.

Opponents, however, note that the project is being put up on prime agricultural land and that traffic is already stressed in the fastest-growing region on the island.

The state Land Use Commission allowed the property to be reclassified for urban use from agricultural use in June 2012.

Makakilo community activist Kioni Dudley is already contending that Horton’s application is invalid, pointing out that the commission approval made it clear that three different agencies need to "accept" an updated traffic impact analysis report from Horton before it can apply for city rezoning. Dudley said he will ask the Planning Commission to throw out the application. 

The language in the approval cited by Dudley states: "Petitioner shall obtain acceptance of the updated (traffic impact report) from the (state Department of Transportation), the (city Department of Planning and Permitting) and the (city Department of Transportation Services), prior to submittal of a change in zoning application with the City and County of Honolulu."

Dudley insists that DTS has not yet signed off on the traffic study.

DTS Director Michael Formby has told Dudley, however, that the Department of Planning and Permitting formally accepts traffic studies for the city and that Transportation Services is "not the accepting agency." Therefore, he said, Transportation Services "is not required to send a letter of acceptance."

Planning and Permitting Director George Atta, in a written statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Wednesday, concurred with Formby. He cited a Feb. 4 letter from Formby to Hoopili project manager Austin, Tsutsumi and Associates that states his department had no further questions regarding the traffic study.

Atta said Planning and Permitting, as the accepting agency, viewed this letter as Transportation Services signing off on the traffic impact study.

Horton Vice President Cameron Nekota, in an email statement, said the developer maintains it has submitted what it is required to turn over to the city for its zone change application, including letters of acceptance from the agencies. 

"The state Office of Planning and the Land Use Commission have recognized that the necessary documents have been received," Nekota said.

But Dudley insists commission members wanted both city agencies, as well as the state transportation office, to sign off on the traffic report because so many questions were being raised about the project’s impact.  

The voluminous land use approval document shows Horton agreed to foot the estimated tab of $9 million to $10 million to add one lane in each direction of the H-1 freeway between the Kunia and Waiawa interchanges. 

The developer is also agreeing to an additional $136 million in traffic improvements, including $30 million toward the city’s "Ewa Highway Impact Fee Ordinance Program" for roads in the region; $58 million in land and construction costs to improve Farrington Highway; $22 million for a new east-west road; $6 million for land under the rail line and a park-and-ride facility; $4 million in land for the Department of Transportation to construct a new H-1, southbound onramp at Kunia Road; and contributing land valued at $40 million for the existing Kualakai Parkway.

Additionally, Horton is being required to update its traffic study as needed and to otherwise coordinate with state and city agencies "to ensure that all traffic impacts are adequately addressed and properly mitigated."

The Hoopili property was used primarily for sugar cane cultivation from the 1800s. In more recent decades it has been home to several produce farms that leased the space. Among the tenants are Aloun Farms and Ho Farms.

After the Land Use Commission reclassified the lands under Hoopili for urban use in June 2012 following a contentious hearing process, the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter appealed the decision. 

Anthony Aalto, Sierra Club Oahu Group chairman, said the Hawaii Supreme Court has accepted the appeals request and that a hearing date is pending. 

Aalto said that while the Sierra Club accepts there’s a need for more affordable and workforce housing and supports the city’s rail project, "we think it is madness to build 12,500 homes on top of the most productive food farm in the state."

Noting that the rail project runs through Hoopili, including a major hub stop, Aalto said, "Although one might expect many potential Hoopili residents to use the rail system, it is clear that the development would also put thousands more cars on H-1 every day and the freeway simply can’t handle it."

Horton’s initial plan calls for Hoopili to go up in two major phases, with construction beginning in 2015 and full build-out in about 20 years.

Among the other conditions Horton has agreed to is providing the land and construction money for three elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.

The developer is also required to devote at least 251 acres within the project for urban agriculture.

Both the Ewa and Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale neighborhood boards voted to support the project after Horton officials briefed members of their plans. 

The city planning commission meeting takes place 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ Hale Ponoi Building in Kapolei.