LIHUE >> A Las Vegas-based developer has shelved plans to build a 380-home subdivision and 18-hole golf course on 465 acres of former Amfac/JMB sugar land just north of Lihue Airport. Developer retreats
on Kauai subdivisionCounty applications are
withdrawn for Ocean Bay PlantationBy Anthony Sommer
tsommer@starbulletin.comThe proposed $150 million project, named Ocean Bay Plantation at Hanamaulu, drew strong protests from environmentalists and native Hawaiian activists at two public hearings, most recently on Tuesday.
Yesterday, Ernest W. Moody, the project's owner, withdrew a request for a general plan amendment that was awaiting a vote by the Kauai Planning Commission. On Tuesday he withdrew a request for a variance that was needed to subdivide the land.
Moody said the proposal had become too caught up in election-year politics.
"We will continue to work with the community and government and redesign our project and return at the proper time when our plan can be judged on its true merits," Moody said in a prepared statement.
County planning officials and Moody's own consultants estimated it would take three years or more to obtain all the state and county permits needed for the project.
The withdrawal of the applications puts the project back at square one if Moody decides to revive it in the future.
Much of the opposition came from Kauai residents who objected to a major amendment to the county's general plan that was completed two years ago after three years of work.
For many of the island's environmental activists, it became the newest focal point of a series of clashes with developers that date back more than a quarter of a century.
Ocean Bay Plantation was conceived as a combination of upscale and moderate single homes as well as townhouses and a small retail center. Moody said it would have provided 900 construction jobs and 220 permanent jobs after completion.