Scrutiny needed for Ewa Beach retail village

Haseko Development Inc. has been building out its Ewa Beach project for years, following a path with twists and turns. Hoakalei Resort is how the area is described more broadly, but it’s been a shape-shifter.

The company has its principal permits for the project, but the community still needs assurances about the plans for a key stretch of West Oahu waterfront. What provisions are being made for public use of the waterfront and access to the shoreline itself? Will the shopping complex Haseko now envisions be for residents as well as tourists?

The fact that the project has morphed over time is the reason for the raised eyebrows. The focal point of this 1,100-acre master-planned resort-residential development originally was envisioned as a marina, but in 2011 that plan was abandoned in favor of a lagoon.

Without detailing the legal battles that engaged homeowners who had bought in expecting a marina, suffice it to say that the latest unveiling of plans for a retail “village” was received by a skeptical community.

“They were in the early planning stages 12 years ago,” said state Rep. Matt LoPresti, whose constituency includes Hoakalei and who has been a plaintiff in a homeowners’ case against Haseko. “I hope that what they do is successful. … I hope it’s something that serves visitors and locals alike. But I’ll believe it when I see it.”

The retail complex, not yet named, was announced last week as a $300 million project Haseko expects to start building next year. Executives promised that it won’t be a typical shopping mall. The village concept will reflect a kind of time-travel through architectural designs from plantation days to the present.

Blueprints also are filling up with slots for seven major restaurants, a specialty market and health club and spa. A boardwalk would front the shops, with a landscaped “town center” and an outdoor dining terrace by the lagoon.

The merchant strategy is being handled by the Kentucky-based firm J. Richard Hill &Co., which had a hand in redeveloping Coney Island in New York and retail elements of luxury resorts and water parks.

So the local resident may wonder, “What’s there for me?” Haseko is permitted to develop 950 hotel, timeshare or vacation condominium units, so it’s reasonable to assume visitors will be the target market for all this.

There is little wrong with resort-styled retail, but in combination with the overall layout of the properties bordering the lagoon, it may become less than welcoming to residents who want to access not only the shops and restaurants but the shoreline beyond them.

In addition, as LoPresti pointed out, it’s far from the H-1 freeway. The traffic difficulty — Fort Weaver Road is already congested — is no problem for the visitors in a self-contained resort, but it would be for residents wanting to come through.

Fortunately, the city has set robust public-access conditions in the permit. The swimming cove (adjacent to the private-use lagoon) would be open to the general public when completed, as well as public parking.

There would be a publicly accessible pedestrian pathway linking the parking area to the shoreline areas: Oneula, also known as Hau Bush, and White Plains beaches. The path also would link to a planned nature preserve.

Officials must see that those are among the deliverables of this project. Free access to the shoreline is a right protected by state law as well as provisions of the permit, and there’s a history of a public battle to defend that right in the development of Ko Olina and other projects.

Under the Hawaii Revised Statutes, the shoreline stretches to the upper reaches of the wash of waves at high tide during the season with the highest wash.

Counties must by law ensure a reasonable degree of public access on pathways at least 6 feet wide. Military property is exempt from this mandate.

Hoakalei and Haseko’s adjacent Ocean Pointe community are part of the ongoing development of the west side as a largely residential-commercial region edged by Oahu’s newest resorts. Among these will be three new beachfront hotels and a luxury condo at Ko Olina.

At the eastern end of the Second City, Haseko expects to finish its retail and resort contracts over the next decade, including up to 4,850 residential units as well.

This underappreciated stretch of Oahu shoreline affords a stellar view of Diamond Head and is a jewel in the rough. Added amenities here could be worthy of all the effort and investment.

It could be, as long as Haseko and its overseers in city government make sure that the public, along with its homeowners and hotel visitors, get a chance to enjoy it.