Living in a house on a forested ridge just beyond the edge of suburbia sounds attractive on heavily developed Oahu. But some Kailua residents are objecting to an effort by an area real estate agent to build such a home.

The plan has created a considerable stir in the hillside community of Kailua Bluffs between Enchanted Lake and Bellows Air Force Station, with instances of alleged harassment, property damage and trespass warnings.

Contention over the plan also is spreading awareness of a well-established — though perhaps not well-known — provision of state land-use law that allows a single-family residence to be built on conservation land.

"There is a lot of disgruntlement and disenchantment," said Teresa Parsons, a member of the Kailua Neighborhood Board who lives in Kailua Bluffs. "It’s made the community very upset."

Dawn Horn, a Kailua real estate agent who is seeking a state permit to build one home for her family on a 37-acre site, contends that a small group of neighbors is trying to derail her plan by spreading misinformation that includes suggesting she intends to create a residential subdivision or condominium project.

"They’re trying to misinterpret and misrepresent things intentionally," she said, adding that she suspects the most vehement opponents have resorted to vandalizing her property — including pasting the words "DIE HAOLE" on a mailbox post — after they were told to stop using pieces of her property that for some had become illegal backyard extensions.

"They’re retaliating," she said. "It’s a vendetta."

The property in question was once part of a bigger parcel for which developer Lone Star Hawaii Inc. obtained a state Land Use Commission change from conservation to urban use in the early 1980s so it could develop the Kailua Bluffs subdivision, which itself was a controversial project opposed by city planners and the neighborhood board.

Lone Star Hawaii was a subsidiary of a Connecticut-based cement producer that became a major Kailua home developer in 1970 when it bought Joseph Pao’s development firm Hawaiian Pacific Industries Inc.

Of the 37 acres Horn owns, 11 acres were intended for homes under Lone Star and remain in the state’s urban district while 26 acres remain in the conservation district, according to property records. The developer, however, scaled back its plan and looked to sell remnant land in 2003 after completing Kailua Bluffs.

Lone Star sold the 37 acres along with a nearby marshy area in 2003 for $5,000 to a company led by local real estate agent Karen V. Lee, according to property records.

Lee, who did not wish to comment for this story, put the two parcels on the market in 2011 initially for $550,000 and then $425,000, listing records show. In late 2012 a new listing offered just the 37-acre parcel for $280,000.

Horn, who once represented Lone Star as a sales agent for Kailua Bluffs, bought the lot for the list price in May 2013. 

County zoning for the property is preservation, though Horn is seeking to build a house under state rules governing land in the state conservation district.

Horn said she intended to build a dream home for her family and expected neighbors would prefer such use as opposed to a developer trying to rezone the urban portion of the property and add the last phase of homes envisioned by Lone Star.

"I’m the first owner who hasn’t planned to subdivide the property," she said. "It’s going to be our homestead. One family. One house."

Some folks in the community, however, were suspicious about the new owner’s plans, and presented information to the neighborhood board’s planning and zoning committee in May 2013 that suggested Horn planned three homes and a photovoltaic farm.

Skip Byron, a board member and Kailua Bluffs homeowner, represented about 15 members of the newly formed Kailua Bluffs Neighborhood Group to oppose Horn’s plan at the meeting, according to meeting minutes.

The information presented at the meeting was based on a March 2013 letter Horn sent to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources inquiring whether she could build two additional homes for her adult children plus a 2.6-acre photovoltaic farm for power and income.

Horn said the letter was exploratory and led her to understand — before she bought the property — that only one home may be permitted on a conservation parcel under DLNR rules.

At a June neighborhood board meeting, Horn said she intended to build one single-family house and a photovoltaic system to make the property energy independent.

In November, Horn filed a conservation district use application with DLNR seeking a permit to build the house and a rooftop PV system along with some subsistence agricultural activities.

Developing the home will cost an estimated $1.3 million given environmental and engineering work that includes producing an environmental assessment, clearing vegetation and building a 1,220-foot driveway, according to plans. 

In response to the application, several neighbors have urged DLNR to reject Horn’s plan.

Some Kailua Bluffs homeowners claim they were told when they bought their property that the land behind them would never be developed, a contention Horn said is false.

Other area residents complain that the $280,000 Horn paid for 37 acres is less than what a typical home or traditional house lot costs in Kailua.

"A person can’t even purchase a studio apartment for that price in this area!?!" Sandra Coons, a Kailua Bluffs resident, wrote in a Jan. 9 letter to DLNR. "Few undisturbed open spaces exist in Kailua and we’d like to do what we can to preserve them for future generations to enjoy," she added.

Part of the continued concern also stems from a draft environmental assessment local planning firm Group 70 International prepared for Horn.

The report requires a discussion of alternatives to Horn’s proposed development. Alternatives mentioned include recreational use and a residential subdivision or condominium project.

Horn said she isn’t proposing those alternatives, which were considered by prior owners of the land and included in the report to compare impacts on the environment. Another alternative mentioned is to leave the property alone, which Horn said she also is not proposing.

Some Kailua Bluffs residents regard the alternative development scenarios as something Horn suggests she could do if her plan for one home is denied.

Cindy Osaki said in a Jan. 11 letter to DLNR that many of her Kailua Bluffs neighbors oppose a subdivision or condo development.

"We urge you to stop the approval of the landowner’s permit to develop the lush forest-like hillside surrounding our homes," she wrote.

Horn created a website, 1711kanapuu.com, to explain her plan and counterclaims that she said are false. But she said opponents have kept up a countercampaign that includes a Facebook page titled Save Kaiwa Ridge.

Opposition efforts, according to Horn, also have included attempts to intimidate her, such as leaving dead birds on her car and stabbing her tires. A mailbox Horn installed fronting the property where a driveway would connect to the street also was destroyed, and disturbing displays have been placed on the remaining post, including a dead rat, dead frogs and her picture above a newspaper headline clipping referring to death.

Horn said eight police reports have been filed about such incidents.

Horn believes the vehement opposition has more to do with her restricting access to the property, which she said some neighbors used as an extension of their yards with uses that included a golf driving range, chicken coops, irrigated landscaping, a hot tub and a playground.

Of 81 homes fronting Horn’s property, 24 had encroachments, according to Horn. All were rectified.

While some of the opposition may be personal, there is also sentiment from beyond Kailua Bluffs that homes aren’t appropriate on conservation land.

Chuck Prentiss, Kailua Neighborhood Board chairman and a former land planner for the city and state, said the board did not vote on Horn’s plan, but has opposed previous proposals for residential use on conservation land.

"If you pick away incrementally at the conservation district, you won’t have a conservation district," he said.

Added Donna Wong, another board member, who is also executive director of Hawaii’s Thousand Friends and opposed Lone Star’s development of Kailua Bluffs, "It’s conservation land. That should mean something. These applications are going in all over the place."

True, building homes on conservation land isn’t unusual. The state Board of Land and Natural Resources approved permits for such use four times in each of the last two years.

Some areas in the conservation district contain many homes, such as Tantalus on Oahu, Haena on Kauai and Makena on Maui.

The state created the conservation district in the early 1960s largely following forest preserve boundaries that included private property.

A wide variety of acceptable uses of conservation land can be permitted by DLNR, including agriculture, renewable energy, commercial forestry, wilderness camps, telescopes, zip line rides, mining and landfills.

"There are a lot of uses that I think would surprise people," said Sam Lemmo, administrator of DLNR’s Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands.

Single-family residences have always been allowed in the conservation district, though over the decades added restrictions have curtailed residential use in more sensitive areas. A discretionary permit system also was implemented.

"No one has a right to build a home in the conservation district," Lemmo said. "It’s still a discretionary process."

There have been cases where homes on conservation land weren’t approved, including two homes proposed in the late 1990s below the Pali Highway overlooking the Pali Golf Course.

Approving or rejecting a permit is based on DLNR rule criteria that include impacts on the environment.

Horn’s draft environmental assessment said the proposed house would be visible from some neighboring homes but should have no significant negative impact on the natural environment.

"The use of this land for a home site will not detract from the visual resources of the area and will meet state and city development standards," the report said. "The residence will blend with the surrounding land, to preserve the natural beauty of Kailua and Windward Oahu."

DLNR has yet to schedule a meeting for its board to hear public testimony and decide on Horn’s permit.