The proposed 1,554-acre Hoopili housing project cleared a hurdle Wednesday with a unanimous first-reading approval from the Honolulu City Council.
Bill 3, D.R. Horton-Schuler Division’s request for 11,750 housing units, would rezone what are now largely farm lands between Ewa and Kapolei, the largest residential project to be considered by the Council in at least two decades.
Only a smattering of testimony was heard Wednesday, with most of the people addressing the matter calling on the Council to deny the plan.
As in the past, supporters argued that the Hoopili project is needed to ease Oahu’s housing shortage and, to a lesser extent, boost job growth. Opponents continued to raise objections, citing the potential impact on traffic and the loss of prime agricultural lands.
The project will be next discussed at a Council Zoning and Planning Committee public hearing slated for 5 p.m. March 2 at Kapolei Hale, Zoning Chairman Ikaika Anderson said. The committee will hear additional testimony before taking a vote at a meeting set for 9 a.m. March 5 at Honolulu Hale.
The project also requires two more approvals before the full Council and at least one more trip to Anderson’s committee.
Brooke Wilson, government relations manager for the pro-development Pacific Resource Partnership, said population growth forecasts the need for 104,000 new homes by 2050 to accommodate an increase in population. Hoopili’s project mix is expected to include 3,500 affordable units, she said.
But the call for houses and jobs were drowned out by Hoopili’s opponents.
Makakilo resident Victoria Cannon said Hoopili’s most recent traffic study requires the developer to add one additional lane eastbound and westbound to H-1 freeway. She urged Council members to include language forcing Horton to complete the additional freeway lanes before any homes are built, "not after completion of the 2,500th unit, not after completion of the 5,000th unit."
Pamela Boyer, Oahu president of Farmers Union United and the operator of four farmers markets, called the land under Hoopili "the most important land that we have on this island." She added, "It produces so many vegetables that cannot be produced" elsewhere. "The zucchini, the broccoli, the peppers, the onions, they cannot be produced in Wahiawa-Mililani; it’s too wet there."
Horton officials say the project is designed to be sustainable, allowing many of its residents to live, work and play within the community. More than 80 percent of the housing mix, about 9,463 units, is expected to be multifamily apartment, townhouse or condominium units while only 2,287 are projected to be traditional, single-family residences.
The developer has also agreed to set aside more than 200 acres for commercial farming.
To address traffic, Horton has agreed to spend $9 million to $10 million to add new freeway lanes on either side of H-1 between the Kunia and Waiawa interchanges. It has also agreed to add millions more in other traffic improvements.
To see Bill 3 and related materials, go to: bit.ly/CCHNLBill15-03.
The Council, at its Wednesday meeting, also voted to approve:
» Roy Amemiya as city managing director. The one-time budget director under Mayor Jeremy Harris is now Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s second-in-command, replacing Ember Shinn.
» Bill 78 (2014), requiring that interest earned on money collected at Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve be deposited into the facility’s dedicated fund.
» Resolution 15-17, calling on Caldwell to undertake an experimental demonstration housing project using shipping containers and/or other types of micro-units.
» Resolution 15-25, establishing a domestic violence response task force to make recommendations to the Honolulu Police Department, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney and other agencies and service providers on how to improve training that pertains to reporting and monitoring of domestic violence cases.
