The state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has spent more than a decade trying to make higher and better use of its only land in urban Honolulu: a former bowling alley in Moiliili. Now state lawmakers are considering helping to kick-start redevelopment of the site.

A committee in the state House last week passed a bill that would help DHHL finance building high-rise homes on the 1.9-acre property that was once home to Stadium Bowl-O-Drome.

Rep. Calvin Say introduced the measure, House Bill 65, to overcome one hurdle he said the agency has faced: devoting money to upgrade sewer and water lines that are inadequate for dense housing on the site.

“The Bowl-O-Drome lands have been sitting idle,” he said. “Are we just going to sit on it for another 10 years or 20 years? That’s the concern.”

HB 65 would authorize the state Finance Department director to issue general obligation bonds of an unspecified amount in the fiscal year that begins July 1 for redeveloping the site at 820 Isenberg St.

According to Say (D, Palolo-St. Louis Heights-Kaimuki), the amount of money would be just to pay for sewer and water infrastructure. He said other spending needs at DHHL have been higher priorities, leading the agency to miss out on generating income from the Bowl-O-Drome site or using it to provide housing for beneficiaries waiting decades for homes.

Around 27,000 Native Hawaiians are on a DHHL wait list for homesteads.

Members of the House Committee on Ocean, Marine Resources and Hawaiian Affairs voted 7-0 this month to advance the bill, which is now referred for consideration by the House Finance Committee.

Rep. Gene Ward (R, Kalama Valley-Queen’s Gate- Hawaii Kai) wasn’t on the committee that voted, but he hailed the virtue of the bill in a recent floor speech. “This is a historical bill even though it’s empty,” he said, referring to the lack of a detailed proposal. “I hope it’s just the beginning of a momentum that we can build houses for the Hawaiians and it can be done on a high-rise level.”

Jobie Masagatani, DHHL director, endorsed the bill but did not discuss specifics about plans for the site.

Paula Aila, a department spokeswoman, said an environmental review process, which has been underway for more than a year, needs to be completed before the agency can determine how it can enhance use of the site.

This environmental compliance process also could allow DHHL to redevelop the site using federal funds through the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act. Aila said there is no expected timetable for completing the environmental review.

“We’re pretty far off from determining what the use of the property would be,” Aila said, adding that DHHL did not request HB 65.

However, DHHL does have an idea of how the Bowl-O-Drome site could be redeveloped with housing. The site could be used for up to 126 residences in a two- to 10-story building along with revenue-generating commercial uses at street level, according to a 2014 Oahu Island Plan the agency developed to provide recommendations for future uses of its lands.

That plan estimated the cost of infrastructure for such a building at $4.1 million.

Say hopes the bill will help DHHL advance its redevelopment effort and provide a valuable return on investment. “If it passes, it passes,” he said. “If not, at least I gave it a shot.”

Stadium Bowl-O-Drome was built in 1955 next to what was Honolulu’s sports stadium before the advent of Aloha Stadium. The Moiliili stadium was torn down in 1976 and replaced by a park.

DHHL was given the Bowl-O-Drome property in 1995 as part of a land-use settlement with the state. But the agency has struggled to capitalize on the largely unused property for more than a decade.

The 24-lane bowling alley initially closed on New Year’s Eve 1999, and another operator made a go of continuing operations that lasted from mid-2000 to mid-2004.

In 2002 DHHL solicited proposals from private developers to lease the site for up to 65 years for only commercial use. Interest was received from Down to Earth Natural Foods, an automobile dealership, a public storage facility and a Native Hawaiian medical research facility, but no deal resulted.

Then in 2006 the agency repeated its effort and again found no takers for a long-term lease, though a tow truck company has rented the old Bowl-O-Drome parking lot as a base yard for many years.