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Shopping center It's back to the drawing board for developers of a shopping center at the edge of Royal Kunia.
loses half its site
City zoners cut the area for
a commercial complex at
Royal Kunia to 20 acresBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-BulletinThe City Council Zoning Committee yesterday moved a bill shrinking the amount of land allowed for the commercial complex to 20 acres from 41 acres. The full Council must approve the bill before it becomes law.
Initial plans called for 400,000 square feet of commercial floor area, including two anchor tenants, a cinema, bowling alley and a medical-financial office center.
But critics of the shopping center complained it would be too large and out of place between new housing subdivisions and former pineapple land. Opponents also voiced fears about what it might do to the nearby downtown Waipahu business district, already in the economic doldrums.
Councilwoman Rene Mansho, who has backed the project, said the reduced acreage is a good compromise for opponents and those who believe the complex would be beneficial.
Project planner Keith Kurahashi and architect Lloyd Sueda said they need to meet with landowners HRT Limited, Honolulu Ltd. and 300 Corp. -- all related to the nonprofit Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation -- to come up with new plans.
They had argued that rezoning, from limited industrial to neighborhood business designation, for a larger parcel would have allowed for more open space and eliminated the need for multiple-story structures. More than two-thirds of the property would have been left open, they said.
But Councilman Gary Okino, one of the project's critics, said nothing stopped the landowner or its successors from building out the project.
Randall Fujiki, city planning and permitting director, initially recommended that the project be reduced to 22 acres. He said he was pleased with the latest plan.
Instead of following his recommendation, however, the Planning Commission had forwarded to the Council the 41-acre proposal introduced by the developers.
City & County of Honolulu
