Would you rather live next to a cemetery, a senior care facility or more homes?
That’s a question the owner of a local trucking company posed to nearly 600 people in Kaneohe about 18 months ago. The vast majority didn’t respond, but the trucking company owner is now pushing ahead with plans to develop 5.4 acres of vacant land zoned for preservation in the Puohala Village neighborhood.
Aaron Alii Tampos of Tampos Trucking Inc. wants to rezone 3.4 acres of the site bordering Kaneohe Stream so he can sell eight residential lots, five of which would require a bridge for accessing the main piece of the property surrounded by the stream and a U-shaped former path of the stream.
Tampos, who bought the site a decade ago and in 2017 angered much of the community with a proposal to create a cemetery with 735 burial plots and 7,103 urn niches, last month convinced the City Planning Commission to unanimously endorse his new plan despite a recommendation by the City Department of Planning and Permitting for more limited rezoning.
The City Council is now tasked with making a final decision following public hearings to consider the rezoning via Bill 27.
COMMUNITY opposition is expected to be strong, as it was for the May 1 Planning Commission hearing.
City officials received roughly 360 written comments opposing the project earlier this year, and the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board voted 10-0 in January to oppose rezoning.
“Puohala Village does not need any more homes,” Michael Nishizawa said in an April email to DPP.
Winona Ramolete said preservation land should be protected. “Enough is enough. Stop the almighty dollar hungry people exploiting our natural resources for selfish gain,” she said in a January email to DPP.
Some comment providers said Tampos made a bad speculative decision to buy cheap preservation-zoned land and shouldn’t be allowed to upzone the property, while others said rezoning would set a bad precedent that encourages others to seek out preservation land for residential development.
About 15 community members submitted comments in support of rezoning, mainly because they view eight homes as better than a cemetery.
TAMPOS SAID in a letter to the Planning Commission that his small housing plan is a “solution” for the property.
Initially, Tampos said he decided against pursuing residential development and instead proposed the cemetery in mid-2017 as an allowed use of preservation-zoned land under city regulations.
But after strong negative community reactions that included a petition from 183 people against a cemetery, he said he intended to “appease” the neighborhood with a residential plan instead, his letter said.
Tampos also said in the letter that putting homes on the property would reduce a fire hazard from the overgrown lot, address a problem with homeless people on the property and help provide homes in a market with short supply.
As part of the residential development effort, a survey was mailed to 573 area residents asking whether they favored a cemetery, a senior care facility, 12 homes or eight homes on the site.
The survey suggested that 20 homes were possible under a city cluster housing permit for residential-zoned land, and said the property has attracted dumping, unsupervised child play and illicit activities by the homeless and others.
About 80 people responded to the survey, including 26 who selected the senior care option, 24 who selected the eight-home option and seven who wrote in their own option for no development.
DPP concluded that rezoning only parts of the site not separated from Puohala Village by the old stream bed would be appropriate, allowing four homes.
Tampos, however, indicated that DPP’s recommendation would cost him $1.8 million and make such a scaled-back project financially unfeasible.
A project budget submitted to the Planning Commission states that Tampos expects a $721,409 profit by selling four lots at $450,000 and four at $525,000, or $3.9 million in all, after spending $3.2 million on the project including $145,000 to buy the land.
“The project does not pencil out with just four units,” Tampos said in his letter. “The eight units are needed for this rezoning to work.”
An initial hearing on Bill 27 is scheduled for Wednesday.
