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Waipahu alarmed
about 41-acre mall

The project may stymie
business revitalization and
create traffic problems,
opponents say

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By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

Waipahu community leaders are asking the City Council to reject plans for a new shopping center at the edge of Royal Kunia.

The proposed 41-acre project -- which could be as large as Kahala Mall -- will interfere with efforts to revitalize businesses in Waipahu and create traffic problems in Kunia and Village Park, opponents say.

"I don't think we're going to see anything more threatening to our community than this project," said Councilman Gary Okino, one of three Council members who represent Waipahu. "It's going to kill Waipahu."

Plans call for a shopping center, entertainment complex and a financial/medical/office facility on 41 acres of land in the Royal Kunia II subdivision.

Planner Keith Kurahashi, who represents developers HRT Ltd., Honolulu Ltd. and 300 Corp., said the project will look more like Mililani Town Center, which has about 45 acres.

"We aren't looking at being a regional shopping center," he said.

The Planning Commission voted, 5-2, to recommend approval despite objections by the Planning and Permitting Department, which suggested approval be given for only 22.5 acres.

Critics say that with a conceptual proposal of just under 400,000 square feet of floor area, it would be nearly as large as Kahala Mall, which has about 407,000 square feet of floor space.

Anticipated in the center are two large anchor tenants, a supermarket, drugstore, retail shops, eateries, theaters, a bowling alley, arcade center and miniature golf facility and a fitness center.

Annette Yamaguchi, chairwoman of the Waipahu Neighborhood Board, thinks her organization was misled when it was shown the plans for the project. The board supported the project thinking it would be a small strip mall, she said. "We would have never supported this."

"We agreed with (the development of) Wal-Mart, we agreed with Waikele, but this is just overkill, and it has to come to a stop," she said.

"We knew that the land was being zoned for industrial use and some commercial, but we never knew the extent of the commercial," said Darrlynn Bunda, executive director of the newly reorganized Waipahu Community Association.

Bunda said the Waipahu community has worked hard to re-energize a commercial center diminished by new development in Waikele, Ewa, Mililani and other burgeoning areas of central and Leeward Oahu.

Among the projects under way are a Waipahu Festival Market using restored buildings in the heart of the town and the $13-million Waipahu Community Center.

Still, businesses in Waipahu continue to struggle. Last month, the Safeway at Waipahu Town Center became the latest business to shut down.

"The pie can only be divided in so many slices, and if you look at the (U.S.) Census, you can see Hawaii is not growing all that fast," said Phillip Keipper, property manager of Waipahu Town Center, who believes a new shopping center nearby will hurt the town center.

Kurahashi said a major community commercial center would offer attractions other area shopping facilities do not have, noting that Kunia residents now have to travel to Kapolei, Pearlridge or Mililani Town Center to see a movie.

Other residents are concerned about the potential increase in traffic on Kunia Road.

"Wal-Mart already has brought us a lot of traffic in the area," said Richard Oshiro, who represents the Village Park area on the Waipahu Neighborhood Board. "That's the major reason for the bottlenecks in the area."

The project appears to have divided Council members.

Councilwoman Rene Mansho, whose district includes the Kunia section of Waipahu, said she is inclined to support the project. She believes those who purchased homes in the Royal Kunia and Village Park subdivisions are anticipating construction of the shopping center.

Mansho said the project will actually help traffic in the area for Kunia and Village Park residents since they will not need to travel outside their region for shopping or entertainment.

Okino, who spent more than three decades as a city planner, said the project flies against Development Plan policies calling for major commercial activity to be concentrated in Kapolei.

The proposal will be heard by the City Council Zoning Committee at 9 a.m. Tuesday.