The state Land Use Commission on Friday rejected a request for it to reconsider its approval of the 11,750-unit Ho‘opili project developed by D.R. Horton/Schuler Homes.

The Friends of Makakilo asked that the case be reopened. The project would convert 1,554 acres of farmlands on the Ewa plain into homes.

Commissioners spent roughly five hours hearing public comments — both supporting and opposing the project — and asking questions of representatives for Ho‘opili, the Friends and state and city agencies.

If the Friends were successful showing that developer D.R. Horton/Schuler Homes had “failed to perform” or abide by the conditions of its Land Use Commission reclassification, it would have led to a formal contested case hearing, during which commissioners would hear arguments about whether to revert the site to agricultural designation.

A slew of opponents, led by Friends President Kioni Dudley, went through the litany of concerns they have with the project, including traffic, drainage, loss of agricultural lands and destruction of what is believed to be habitat for the endangered Hawaiian owl.

Supporters of Ho‘opili, meanwhile, testified that the project would bring badly needed homes and jobs to a housing-starved community.

In the end, commissioners decided they did not have sufficient information to reopen the case because the Friends could not convince them that Horton/Schuler violated the terms of its LUC approval.

A key contention by Dudley was that the developer had failed to submit an adequate Traffic Impact Analysis Report. He argued that the TIAR was based on outdated, faulty and inconsistent data. “The data they gave us was baloney,” he said.

But the developer’s attorney, Benjamin Kudo, and attorneys for both the state and city said the contents of the report could not be questioned, only whether the required state and city agencies signed off on the report. Both state and city officials said they had.

Other arguments raised by the Friends also failed to sway the commissioners. Those included allegations that Horton/Schuler failed to divert stormwater runoff, did not provide access for Native Hawaiian practitioners and did not notify the commission that it had sold land within the project area.

It was up to the Friends to prove that the developer had failed to abide by the conditions of its approval, Kudo said. Instead, the group used arguments that were inaccurate, speculative and premature, he said.

Attorney Eric Seitz, who represented the Sierra Club of Hawaii and former state Sen. Clayton Hee as intervenors who sided with the Friends, tried unsuccessfully to have commissioners defer voting on the Friends’ request. He pointed out that the Hawaii Supreme Court might soon decide on his clients’ appeal of the LUC decision.

In its appeal, Ho‘opili opponents argued that the state failed to protect important agricultural lands as required by law. Seitz said how the justices rule could have a bearing on the Friends’ request.

The city had approved rezoning for Ho‘opili in May.