The Honolulu Planning Commission voted Wednesday to recommend rezoning 227 acres around Skyline’s Halawa station to allow for more development of mixed-use business, residential and affordable housing sites near the state’s planned New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District.

Based on a July 10 city Department of Planning and Permitting director’s report, the commission reviewed DPP’s requests for zone changes near the Halawa station side of the first segment of rail — 10.75 miles of guideway and nine stations from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium — to implement the Halawa-area Transit- Oriented Development Plan’s recommendations.

Those recommendations would allow mixed residential and commercial uses at higher densities and heights, while ensuring future developments are pedestrian-friendly — areas meant to feature storefront windows, entrances near sidewalks and parking to the rear of stores and other venues, the city says.

The Planning Commission’s recommendation means the City Council is expected to review the zone changes for possible approval to the Halawa TOD Plan at a future meeting. The Council’s meeting date for that review is still undetermined, city staff said.

Meanwhile, some who attended Wednesday’s meeting objected to potential negative impacts development might have on ancient, historically significant and even sacred Native Hawaiian sites as well as natural resources located in areas near Halawa Valley and Aiea.

“The Halawa TOD Plan is different,” resident Kahau­lani Lum said. “It proposes to alter the landscape once honored by Native priests and high chiefs in a way that has almost nothing to do with their culture.”

Lum added that “while some may feel this way of life is ancient history, the community of Aiea recognized over a quarter of a century ago the importance of saving the brilliance of Ewa’s abundant past.”

For Lum, that important past includes the more than 400-year-old Paaiau Fishpond, on the edge of Pearl Harbor near McGrew Point.

“Paaiau is a state historical registered site,” she said, adding the fishpond was not represented within the city’s Halawa TOD Plan. “We respectfully request that the plan protect this cultural treasure and all Native Hawaiian traditional cultural sites within its realm.”

Resident Bruce Keaulani also hoped that any new building development not expand beyond the Halawa area, particularly toward Halawa Valley.

“What is happening in that district is creating chaos with the gods and goddesses of Halawa that you folks don’t know about,” he said. “If you had, you should stand up. Ha­lawa Valley was a very special place for many priests … very spiritual.”

Noting the natural resources of the area included fresh, potable sources of water, Keaulani then told future developers of the area to “be careful, be careful.”

Later in the meeting, Tim Streitz, DPP’s acting administrator for its transit-oriented development division, said as far as the Paaiau Fishpond was concerned, the historical site lay outside of the Halawa TOD Plan.

“I believe the fishpond you’re referring to is over on the other side of Aiea Bay,” Streitz said in response to Lum’s concerns. “And that was not in the plan.”

He added that most of the Halawa TOD Plan was within “walking distance to the rail station.”

Streitz said this zoning change “does present a unique opportunity through the community bonus program, which allows for developers to get additional height or density for what they currently have in exchange for community benefits.”

He said those community benefits could “really enhance the cultural and historic nature of the area and try to tie that in better to the TOD area.”

Previously, Streitz told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the zoning changes are not directly related to any particular project.

“Although they would support the state’s New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District, or NASED, and Puuwai Momi public housing developments currently being planned in portions of the TOD area,” Streitz said via email. “Both of these large developments are also planned to include new affordable housing.”

The Halawa TOD Plan envisions dense, mixed-use development with a central gateway connecting the rail station to the future stadium, he added. In particular, NASED’s proposed 25,000- to 30,000-seat, multiuse stadium would be surrounded by mixed-use retail development on the existing 98-acre site.

Gov. Josh Green’s administration says the price tag for the new stadium — smaller than the old stadium’s 50,000 seats — is pegged at approximately $400 million. Under the project that’s slated to begin construction in 2025, the state says it expects more than 20% of residential housing at NASED would be affordable housing, while approximately 70% is deemed workforce housing.

“The future neighborhood characteristics will be largely influenced by the state’s NASED project on the Aloha Stadium site because it encompasses such a large portion of the TOD area,” Streitz said. “The city worked closely with the state on the Halawa TOD Plan, and the state’s NASED project is expected to be generally consistent with the TOD Plan, although certain details of the actual developments may differ.”

The vision of a compact, mixed-use, walkable neighborhood was recommended for the Halawa station area in the TOD Plan, adopted by the City Council in 2020. It is also part of the city’s overall strategy to manage and direct future urban growth, particularly in West Oahu.

Under similar actions, the Planning Commission on Wednesday also recommended DPP’s proposed amendments to city laws related to land use covering a TOD special district — which modifies zoning to regulate site design and layout, while allowing for additional building density and height in certain areas, the city says.

This would expand the TOD special district by adding the Halawa rail station area and “apply development standards related to site layout and ground-floor building design once the boundaries are extended around this station,” the director’s report reads.