Roughly 24 residents gathered at Kahuku Village Association Community Center on Wednesday evening to voice their concerns about a proposed 25-megawatt wind project, the second wind farm near the North Shore community.

Some said they were worried about the health impacts the proposed turbines would have on those who live nearby and the degrading property values. Another concern among the Kahuku residents was the inability of the majority of the working-class community to participate in the meetings held by developer Na Pua Makani Power Partners LLC.

Wednesday’s meeting was called to show residents a draft of the project’s environmental impact statement. In the draft, Na Pua Makani said it plans to decrease the number of turbines it will develop near the North Shore community to nine from 10, but the turbines will be roughly 144 feet taller, standing at 656 feet.

“It’s a ripe area to screw over and we have been screwed over,” said resident Charlotte Kamauoha, 48. “A lot of us had no clue about the first set of windmills.”

The first wind farm features a dozen windmills, which were installed in 2011 by First Wind LLC.

Na Pua Makani’s parent company, Champlin/GEI Wind Holdings LLC, a Southern California wind energy development company, plans to supply energy to Hawaiian Electric Co. at 15 cents per kilowatt-hour over the next 20 years. The state Public Utilities Commission approved the power purchasing agreement for the project in January 2015, saying the project would provide benefits to ratepayers.

“We live paycheck to paycheck and barely make it,” Kamauoha said, adding that she wanted to know the real benefits of the project as well as hear the developer address the concerns raised by residents, “like the loss of property value and the health impacts, because we’re going to have to live with it and our kids are going to have to live with it.”

Another Kahuku resident, Toagaifasa Junior Mataafa, 27, said he wasn’t at the open house to take sides but said he was very worried about the community’s ability to engage in the process and the lack of awareness of what is happening with the wind turbines.

Mataafa said when he spoke with his neighbors, many did not know much about the project at all.

“(The developer is) saying the majority of the community is for it, but when I talk to them, that is not what they’re saying. … People are so busy they can’t show up (to the meetings),” Mataafa said. “They’re working 40 hours on top of taking care of their kids.”

Na Pua Makani said the changes in the plan were in response to public comments on the original draft of the EIS at a public open house in June, relating to visual impacts and consideration of fewer turbines.

Resident Vasa Taualii, 80, said she was worried about the health impacts and the distraction the noise would pose to students at the elementary school, the impact on property value as well as the threat to the community if there was a natural disaster.

“If any calamity happens to the windmills, it endangers the children,” Taualii said. “Which member of the (Na Pua Makani) officials would live next to windmills?”

Not all members of the Kahuku community at the open house said they were opposed.

Resident Michaela Primacio, 36, said the project was beneficial because it would add jobs and offered a solution to get the state off fossil fuels.

“I’m proud to say there are windmills in our backyard,” Primacio said.

Mike Cutbirth, president and CEO of Na Pua Makani, said the company has held 18 public meetings since the process to build the turbines began four years ago.

“We always like to get the community involved,” Cutbirth said. “We’ve made changes to respond to those in the community.”

Na Pua Makani said it is committed to giving back to the community and plans to provide a fund of about $2 million for the Kahuku community over the life of the project.

The project site is on agricultural land next to a residential neighborhood to the east and space managed by the Army for training to the west.

Comments on the draft EIS will be accepted through June 7. They can be sent to brita.woeck@tetratech.com. Include “Na Pua Makani Second Draft EIS” in the subject line.