Fifteen years ago, the Hawaii Community Development Authority (HCDA) adopted a master plan for redevelopment of Kalaeloa, land within the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station. The promising vision included commercial and residential development, with a portion of housing locked in as “affordable” and alternative energy development to promote self-sufficiency.
Guided by the state’s vision, Hunt Cos. later drafted its own plan. If the Texas-based developer’s plan to add a total of 4,000 homes, retail outlets, light industrial businesses and recreational spaces proceeds smoothly, construction of first homes at the site since the Navy base closed in 1999 will get underway next year.
It’s encouraging that after a long wait, residential transformation is on the way. However, much has changed since initial plans were hatched. Now, the HCDA and others should see to it that commitment holds to effectively meet the intent of the state’s master plan, starting with affordable housing.
Paving the way for new home construction, Hunt, which acquired much of the former base from the Navy in 2009, has arranged to sell 30 acres to Gentry Homes. The longtime Hawaii housing developer is planning to build 389 residences on the acreage between Barbers Point Elementary School on the former base and a business park in neighboring Kapolei.
The project includes an HCDA requirement that reserves 20% of all new residential floor area for affordable housing. In this case, that means homes would be priced for households earning up to 140% of Honolulu’s area median income (AMI), which equates to $142,250 for a family of four.
The trouble with this formula is that market-priced housing in Kalaeloa is likely below the 140% max AMI allowed under the affordable-housing requirement. To make good on the state’s redevelopment intent to lock in more than one-quarter of housing at affordable-housing prices in overall redevelopment, the framers of evolving plans should top out eligibility for those units at a much lower AMI ceiling.
In recent years, Honolulu Hale has estimated that upwards of 20,000 affordable housing units are needed to meet pent-up demand on Oahu. It’s a given, though, that we cannot effectively reduce our statewide undersupply of adequate housing for Hawaii’s families if much of the inventory designated as affordable skews toward the upper reaches of eligibility.
The mix of homes envisioned by Gentry includes townhome condominiums and single-family residences, with four neighborhood parks in the community. As Kalaeloa grows, where supported by adequate infrastructure, development should opt for higher-density condos and apartments — and against sprawling single-family homes and lawns. Land suitable for housing is in short supply, so should be reserved to reasonably max-out the number of units.
In addition, developers should be required to include green features in construction, such as solar water heaters, which are recognized as a hugely efficient strategy for most homes. Since 2010, the state has required solar water heating in all new homes, but the law — established to reduced fossil-fuel dependence — is relatively weak due to its variance process for granting exceptions.
In its master plan, HCDA estimated that Kalaeloa’s redevelopment could create an estimated 7,000 jobs. If the live-work-play dream is realized, it could touch off major traffic impacts. To that end, development should include solid connections with evolving multimodal transportation, including the city’s rail line terminus in nearby East Kapolei.
With forward movement on Kalaeloa’s reshaping comes opportunity to build a redevelopment model that the state can proudly claim. But while there’s plenty of promise, expect plenty of challenges, too.
Correction: An earlier version of this editorial had an incorrect, higher dollar figure that equates to 140% of Honolulu's median income for a family of four as calculated by HCDA.
