Developer D.R. Horton polished its community service image Tuesday, two days before a potentially deciding City Council vote on whether to rezone 1,553 acres of Ewa farmland to build Horton’s proposed 11,750-home Ho‘opili community.
Horton’s Schuler Homes division donated 1 acre of the Ho‘opili site to the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center for a medical facility to serve Leeward Oahu residents and employ close to 200 people.
The City Council Zoning and Planning Committee is scheduled to take up the rezoning bill for Ho‘opili on Thursday.
It’s not the first time Horton has made a community-minded donation just before a regulatory body was to consider whether to approve the Ho‘opili project.
Two days before an April 2 council hearing on Ho‘opili zoning, Horton announced it would give the Hawaiian Humane Society 4 acres of the Ho‘opili site to expand its animal welfare work.
And two days before a critical hearing at the state Land Use Commission in early 2012, the developer announced an intent to lease 18 acres of its Ho‘opili site to Ho Farms for long-term crop production at below-market rent.
Of course, gaining publicity in advance of public hearings is not a tactic exclusively reserved for one side of an issue.
Opponents of Ho‘opili have organized a demonstration against the proposed rezoning at a Wednesday meeting at Kapolei Hale held by the city Department of Planning and Permitting.
According to an email from Waianae Coast Neighborhood Board member Kellen Smith, demonstrators are expected to include Waianae residents, farmers, Native Hawaiians and others opposed to the Ho‘opili plan.
"This battle is far from over," he said in the email.
Waianae Health Center president and CEO Richard Bettini called the gift from Horton a "generous donation."
The health center, established in 1972, serves nearly 35,000 patients with more than 203,000 visits annually through clinics in Waianae, Kapolei and Waipahu. The nonprofit, which is also expanding its main campus, is the largest employer on the Waianae Coast with more than 600 employees.
The health center projects that it can serve 10,000 patients in its first year of operation at the Ho‘opili site.
Bettini said in a written statement that a campaign to raise money for construction of the Ho‘opili medical facility would start after design work is finalized. If the plan is realized, construction on the health care facility is anticipated to be finished by 2019.
Cameron Nekota, Horton’s vice president in charge of Ho‘opili, said in the press release that it is a privilege to work with the health care provider.
"Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center’s future clinic site in Ho‘opili helps to fulfill the vision to provide quality medical care on the Ewa Plain, as well as add to the diversity of professional jobs directly within the community," he said. "Above all, residents from Ho‘opili and beyond will greatly benefit from the health care services that will be provided at this new facility."
