A developer who in recent years has acquired over 1,000 acres of mostly fallow North Shore farmland has run into community opposition over plans to reuse some of the property.

NS Holdings LLC and Pomaikai Partners LLC, two mainland-based firms led by Kailua resident Justin Alexander, are pursuing plans to develop a regional “food hub” in Waialua and an agricultural park between Haleiwa and Wahiawa.

But a few aspects of the food hub, which include a distillery to make gin and vodka from sugar cane, have drawn opposition from some community leaders, including a state lawmaker.

The food hub is largely intended to provide facilities that small North Shore farmers can use to broaden sales to more consumers and to institutional customers such as hotels, schools and hospitals while also making value-added products.

Such facilities would include a commercial kitchen, equipped office space, a farmers market and a collection of equipment and services for crop processing, packaging, cold storage, marketing and distribution with federal food safety certification. Providing assistance with finances and education also is envisioned.

Another element of the project is the distillery, which Alexander described as a key to making the other parts financially feasible.

Bottles of gin and vodka under the brand name Old Mill Distillery would be made in the shape of a former Waialua Sugar Co. factory smokestack that dates to 1883 and still stands on the project site.

Altogether, project components would employ 17 people, help increase local food production and benefit farmers, according to Alexander, who presented the plan to the North Shore Neighborhood Board in October.

Much of the in-person audience at the board meeting disparaged the plan while some also expressed distrust of the developer.

“It’s all about the distillery and it’s not about helping farmers,” said a man who lives next to the proposed project site and gave only his first name, Pete.

Michael Lyons, a neighborhood board member, said the project would change a way of life for North Shore residents who can buy crops from small farmers alongside the road and feel a community bond from that relationship.

“You’re taking that away,” said Lyons, who received robust applause from the audience. “I don’t want my lifestyle changed.”

Several people expressed concerns about already bad North Shore traffic jammed up by tourists becoming worse with a distillery.

Others objected to the project’s site near Thompson Corner, the intersection of Kaukonahua Road and Farrington Highway, which community members regard as dangerous.

“This is not the location — period, end of story for me,” said Racquel Achiu, a board member.

State Sen. Gil Riviere, who represents the area, complemented the developer’s plan but said the project is misplaced.

“I love the project that you are trying to produce, but ultimately it doesn’t fit on the land where you’re proposing it,” he said.

Alexander said development consultants will conduct a traffic study and propose intersection changes with direction from government officials. Such changes, he said, could include a traffic circle or stoplight that make the intersection safer than it is now.

The project would include 73 parking stalls (35 for farmers and 38 for visitors), and Alexander projected that traffic would increase by 10%, or an additional 37.5 vehicles per hour, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Alexander also said he is willing to make changes to the plan, and that he made the presentation before seeking permits or finalizing plans.

A week before the meeting, the developer met with residents from a neighborhood next to the project site and agreed to drop two previous envisioned plan elements — a distillery tasting room and a collection of food trucks — because of critical comments.

“This is all about asking for feedback,” he said. “This is still moving and we are still developing this.”

Alexander said he doesn’t intend to force an unwanted project in Waialua, but that the community should be willing to accept change if it wants the North Shore’s rural agriculture character to survive.

“If we want to keep your character and the ag roots, the community has to change with it, too, and allow these farmers to vertically integrate, to diversify and to have value-added products,” he said.

Kevin Kelly, a project partner and president of the nonprofit North Shore Economic Vitality Partnership, said a community plan in 2013 identified a food aggregation facility as critical to helping agriculture in the region.

“When we talk about changing our way of life (in) Waialua/Haleiwa, ag has been the pillar of our community forever,” he said. “We’re not changing the way we live; we’re trying to push it into the new world.”

Alexander said 90 farmers have expressed interest in using the proposed food hub.

“Our plan is to help that ag come back, and will not be dependent solely on tourism,” he said.

Danny Lee, another project partner who has experience with food truck operations, elicited some audience applause when he asked for people to clap if they consider the food hub plan at least a semidecent idea.

“Yes, we are developers,” he said. “But we have good intentions.”

All the proposed food hub components are acceptable uses on land zoned for agriculture, though some would be subject to a conditional use or special use permit, according to Alexander.

The project site is 5.4 acres once largely occupied by plantation homes and is within a 43-acre parcel owned by NS Holdings. The firm bought the land from Dole Food Co. for $2 million in 2015, according to property records.

Pomaikai Partners, another company led by Alexander, bought about 1,350 acres around Twin Bridge Road between Haleiwa and Waialua from Dole for about $16 million in 2018.

According to a 2019 filing with the state Land Use Commission, the company intends to develop an ag park for lot buyers or tenants after improving irrigation infrastructure on the site that also included 500 acres leased to the seed corn producer then known as DowDuPont.

“A vibrant agricultural future is planned for the property,” the developer said in the filing, adding that potential uses included a native Hawaiian plant nursery, a 10-acre industrial hemp farm under a state license, research and development with the University of Hawaii, agricultural tourism and open recreation.