The City Council is considering a resolution to set up a bidding competition between Kamehameha Schools and developer D.G. "Andy" Anderson over eight vacant city parcels in Haleiwa.

Council Chairman Ernest Martin, who represents the Haleiwa area, introduced the resolution at the request of the mayor’s office to sell the preservation land. The Budget Committee will hear the resolution at 1 p.m. Monday.

The Council will decide on whether to approve the sale after public hearings are held.

According to the city, the parcels, totaling 3.4 acres, were acquired in the early 1970s by the city via land condemnation and were intended to be used as part of a 1968 master plan for Haleiwa Regional Park. The improvements, however, were not made and the land remains undeveloped.

In 2010, Anderson expressed interest in acquiring one of the parcels next to his property on which Jameson’s Restaurant is located to build an 80-room boutique hotel. After an inspection, the Department of Parks and Recreation determined the property as well as the seven other vacant parcels were not going to be used and should be sold because the city could not afford to develop and properly maintain it.

If the resolution is approved, a sealed bidding process will take place between Anderson and another adjacent landowner, Kamehameha Schools.

Bidding would start at $300,000. The landowner winning the bid would be required to develop a portion of the property as a park and turn it over to a nonprofit entity to maintain it for the benefit of the public.

Kamehameha Schools says it will submit a bid for the parcel to use the site as a cultural park and central access point to the Loko Ea fishpond. Senior Land Asset Manager Kalani Fronda said the portion of the property to be developed as a park could be used by local canoe clubs, and for fishpond maintenance and access by students, kupuna and community groups.

"Protecting Loko Ea from commercial encroachment is an important priority. While we believe that Haleiwa may be well served by the addition of a lodging operation somewhere in Haleiwa town, our concern is that a hotel located so close to that pond and adjacent wetlands could cause irreparable damage," Fronda said in a written statement.

Anderson said: "We’re also concerned as a hotel next door. We want to see it well protected as well because it’s an adjoining asset. We certainly wouldn’t do anything at all to damage it."

His park plans include making the site available for weddings and a farmers market. It also could be used by artists to display and sell their artwork, similar to the Honolulu Zoo Fence on Monsarrat Avenue.

Martin said he would favor the project that offers the most community benefits such as a canoe halau, a farmers market and more public parking. "Such a benefits package could be made a condition for the sale of the property to either buyer," he said in a written statement.