5,000 Waiawa homes planned

While some applaud new development, others worry about regional overcrowding

Alexander & Baldwin Properties Inc. and Gentry Investment Properties are reviving a decades-old project that will deliver 5,000 homes to Central Oahu over 10 years, garnering mixed reviews from the community.

The companies, with approximately $50 million in equity from A&B, have formed a joint venture that will develop homes in Waiawa and sell parcels to home builders. The project, near the point where the H-1 and H-2 freeways merge, is the area's first major residential development in many years.

While some residents are concerned that implementing the master plan -- created in the 1980s and put on hold in the 1990s with the downturn of Hawaii's economy -- will worsen traffic congestion and school crowding, others are excited to see new residential housing coming to Pearl City.

"We're going to be bigger than Kapolei, the second city." -- Dick Poirier, Mililani-Waipio-Melemanu Neighborhood Board chairman

"It's about time -- this project is long overdue," said May Imamura-Uruu, a member of the Pearl City Neighborhood Board. "I like the project because in Pearl City there are not that many areas where you can buy new homes. We were once able to buy new homes, and the younger generation wants the same."

The neighborhood board, which has been in discussions with Gentry for more than 10 years about the project, will want to meet with A&B principals to discuss the project's scope and acceleration, said Albert Fukushima, chairman of the neighborhood board.

"There are some people in the community and some members of the board that have concerns about the impact of this development, but most are very supportive," Fukushima said.

The development, which is unique because it will have multiple builders and is A&B's first large-scale residential project on Oahu, is expected to be popular with buyers because of its high elevation, views and central location, said Stan Kuriyama, chief executive officer of A&B Land Group.

The project, which will include townhomes, garden apartments, duplexes, single-family detached condominiums and zero-lot-line cluster homes, is aimed at a broad range of buyers who are looking for everything from entry-level to custom homes, according to an A&B press release. About a third of the project will meet affordable-housing criteria and will be priced for buyers whose incomes fall within 80 percent to 140 percent of the median income, the release said.

Construction on the project, which is fully entitled, is expected to begin late this year or early next year, with sales to home builders beginning in 2007 and the first homes delivered in 2009, Kuriyama said.

Gentry and A&B are prepared to commit significant financial resources to the Waiawa project, which will require infrastructure development including interchange work, sites for schools and a land bridge at its entryway, he said.

The joint venture is designing and securing construction approvals for infrastructure improvements that are expected to be delivered in time to alleviate the impact of development on the burgeoning community, Kuriyama said.

Gentry officials said that they are excited to have found A&B as a partner for the nearly 30-year-old project.

But not all residents agree that developing a master-planned community in Waiawa will be good for the community. Many are leery that, like the Turtle Bay Resort & Spa on the North Shore, the developer is using a decades-old environmental impact statement, said Dick Poirier, chairman of the Mililani-Waipio-Melemanu Neighborhood Board.

"I've received hundreds of calls from community members who are concerned about further development of Central Oahu without adequate environmental analysis or infrastructure improvements in place," Poirier said.

The Waiawa plan, combined with the planned Koa Ridge project and others, will converge to deliver an estimated 24,000 homes to Central Oahu by 2030, he said.

"We're going to be bigger than Kapolei, the second city," Poirier said. He added that his neighborhood board has passed a resolution urging a moratorium on new development and has co-written a manifesto with the Mililani Mauka-Launani Valley Neighborhood Board calling on the state and county to provide more responsible planning.

The Central Oahu Sustainable Communities Plan, which the state passed several years ago, offers inadequate protection for quality of life, Poirier said.

If Waiawa and other Central Oahu development takes place before infrastructure needs are met, residents in the region could find themselves dealing with crowded schools, water and sewer problems, and excess traffic, said Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter.

To avoid the pitfalls of urban sprawl, the county and state need to concentrate development in urban Honolulu and Kapolei, which the state identified as its second city, Mikulina said.

"We think growth should be focused on already urbanized areas, and open areas should be maximized to improve quality of life, protect the environment and reduce infrastructure demands on taxpayers," he said. "After all, this is an island."