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Hawaii
Developer Pushes to Build Another 5,000 Homes in Central Oahu
Having finished the 40-year construction of 16,000-home Mililani Town in central Oahu two years ago, developer Castle & Cooke has asked the state Land Use Commission (LUC) to reclassify 768 rural acres nearby for another two master-planned and long-stalled projects that will include 5,000 more dwellings.
Called Waiawa and Koa Ridge Makai, reports Honolulu Star-Bulletin writer Allison Schaefers, the projects would offer 1,500 and 3,500 housing units, respectively. The latter also would feature 500,000 square feet of commercial space, recreation centers, churches, parks and an elementary school. Expected to cost between $200,000 and $1 million, said Castle & Cooke Executive Vice President Bruce Barrett, the homes in the lower price range would provide more affordability for central Oahu, while the whole development could generate some 2,500 jobs and millions of dollars in state and Honolulu County revenue. ''We wanted to create an environment that draws people to the community and makes them want to stay there,'' he stressed, confident that ''smart growth'' will help temper traffic.
Residents, noted project manager Dean Minakami, would find most of what they need locally, including a central gathering place, shopping, entertainment, medical facilities, bike paths and other amenities. ''We took the best of Mililani,'' he said, ''and addressed the current needs of Central Oahu residents for a live, work and play community.''
Should it get all approvals and permits, the company could break ground in late 2012. Its officials have already formed a broad community ''visioning'' group to discuss local needs further, while a series of just launched public hearings, the writer observes, is bound to ''reopen old wounds and mend some old fences.'' Some area groups and businesses – including the Mililani Mauka/Launani Valley Neighborhood Board, Wahiawa General Hospital and Costco – favor the current plan. Others – such as the Mililani/Waipio/Malemanu Neighborhood Board and the Sierra Club of Hawaii – continue their strong opposition, resenting a misuse of agricultural land and predicting groundwater shortages, congested roads and overcrowded schools. ''Our main objection is the loss of important ag land, particularly when Oahu is talking about food self-sufficiency,'' said Sierra Club Director Robert Harris. ''This kind of growth is like a cancer,'' warned a neighborhood board member, retired Lt. Col. Ann Freed. ''Instead of keeping the density in town, they are spreading it out all over the island. The second-city concept didn’t work in Kapolei, and it won’t work here.'' 1/22/2010
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