New Mililani Mauka Two key City Council committees have given preliminary approvals to Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii for up to 800 homes in its third and final phase of Mililani Mauka.
homes get OK
2 city committees approve
building plans for up to 800 housesBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.com
The Planning and Zoning committees voted to recommend approvals for the 104-acre project, the largest housing development to come to the Council for rezoning in more than five years.
The site, next to the H-2 freeway southeast of Wahiawa, was initially envisioned as the site of the University of Hawaii's Central Oahu campus. But university officials abandoned it for a property between Kunia and Makakilo about 10 years ago.
Proposed are 298 single-family, detached homes and 502 multifamily units. A market study commissioned by Castle & Cooke showed the need for 3,415 more units in the Central Oahu region through 2009, Castle & Cooke Homes Vice President Alan Arakawa told the Zoning Committee.
The developer looked at other educational facilities, a hospital and other uses before determining that more homes made the most sense for the site, he said.
Castle & Cooke's initial plans called for 6,600 units total for the first two phases of Mililani Mauka. But because the developer chose to build fewer homes in the first two increments, the additional 800 units in the third phase would put the overall total at only 6,530 units, Arakawa said.
Questions have been raised by existing Mililani Mauka residents about the overcrowding of schools.
But Sanford Beppu, a planner with the Department of Education, said current plans should be able to accommodate the estimated 200 more children that the new development will feed into the public school system.
Enrollment at the existing Mililani Mauka Elementary School is 1,185, about 130 more than capacity, he said. But construction on a second elementary school that can handle between 650 and 865 students is expected to begin in April with completion set for 2003, Beppu said. Enrollment at all Mililani area schools at all levels is expected to peak in 2006 and then begin declining, he said.
Traffic issues have also been raised. Access to the project is to be through Koolani Drive and Ukuwai Street. Arakawa said a housing development would have less impact on traffic than a university campus. Conditions for rezoning approval include requiring the developer to work with the Leeward Oahu Transportation Management Association and to submit its traffic improvements plan to the Department of Transportation Services for review and approval.
While the project is the final phase of Mililani Mauka, Castle & Cooke has further plans for Central Oahu.
Now before the state Land Use Commission is the developer's plan for up to 7,500 homes spread across three parcels totaling 1,250 acres at Waiawa and Waipio. If the plan wins approval from the commission this spring, it would then go before the Council for city land use permits.
City & County of Honolulu
