A local contractor has revived a more than decade-old effort to expand rural housing in Kahuku on agricultural land behind the community’s main residential subdivision.

Reuben Fung of Oceanview Builders Inc. is seeking city approval to develop a 91-home subdivision on 17 acres of land zoned for agriculture under a state affordable-housing law that can permit residential development on farmland without a zoning change.

Fung’s estimated $20.7 million project involves building and selling 47 homes for $350,000 to $680,000 to households with low and moderate annual incomes via a lottery.

Another 44 lots with or without homes would be sold at market prices at the project, dubbed Manager’s Ridge.

As a trade-off for producing affordable housing, Fung is seeking exemptions to city land-use regulations, permitting fees and other things.

The proposal, which is being reviewed by city planning officials and is subject to City Council approval, has drawn community opposition despite the developer’s contention that the property is poorly suited for farming but ideal for homes that would reflect the community’s rural character and alleviate a housing shortage in the area.

Councilwoman Heidi Tsuneyoshi, whose district includes Kahuku, said a lot of community discontent has arisen over Manager’s Ridge.

“This has stirred up so much community concern,” she said. “I have very serious concerns.”

The biggest issue for Tsuneyoshi is the proximity of the project site to wind turbines installed two years ago amid demonstrations that resulted in roughly 200 protesters being arrested.

“As you may know, the Kahuku community has and continues to grow distraught of the siting of the wind turbines and its close proximity to homes and (Kahuku High and Intermediate) school,” Tsuneyoshi said in a recent letter to the city Department of Planning and Permitting. “The proposed development would be even closer which causes the community and myself great concern.”

The Kahuku Community Association opposes Manager’s Ridge, citing a May survey of area residents in which about 70% of 144 respondents said they oppose the project and would oppose changing the land’s designated agricultural use to housing.

The Koolauloa Neighborhood Board has yet to take a position on the plan.

Fung’s project also has community support, including 27% of respondents in the Kahuku Community Association survey who said they would enter the lottery to buy one of the homes reserved for low- and moderate- income households.

The Laie Community Association endorsed the project in a May letter, saying that Manager’s Ridge will help alleviate crowding in multigenerational households in Kahuku, Laie and Hauula by providing affordable housing that isn’t overdevelopment.

“We believe that affordable housing is one of the key needs of our region,” the organization wrote. “We believe this proposed development will help our commu­nities relieve some of the pent-up demand we have in Koolauloa.”

Fung claims he has received endorsements from 800 people supporting a project that would connect with the neighboring sub­division and not hurt any agriculture.

“Based on all of its history and merits, we need to ensure Manager’s Ridge is maximized productively for the community,” he said.

The developer emphasized that the land isn’t farmed, that most soil on the site is rated by the state as very poor for farming, that the closest home site is about two times as far from the nearest wind turbine as allowed by city rules, and that buyers can decide whether they want to live in such proximity.

Fung’s plan represents a new version of a previous effort to develop agricultural land behind Kahuku’s main residential area.

The prior plan, also known as Manager’s Ridge, was envisioned in 2006 by Patsy Colburn, a longtime Kahuku resident and owner of Colburn Construction who partnered with California-based Sunrise Venture Group led by Kirk Fausett.

Colburn and Fausett, doing business as Managers Ridge LLC, paid $3 million in 2006 to buy 58 acres zoned for agriculture behind homes on Huehu Street from Campbell Estate, which once leased much of its land in Kahuku to the operator of Kahuku Sugar Plantation until 1971 when the plantation shut down.

The partners proposed creating 143 house lots on the site, but their company declared bankruptcy in 2007 and the land was sold at auction for $2.5 million to another firm in 2008. Colburn died in 2014.

Fung, whose company has built more than 1,000 homes on Oahu for developer D.R. Horton, bought the 58-acre site in 2015 for $3.8 million.

Since then Fung has resold two 5-acre portions of the site occupied by a pair of historic homes for $1 million apiece, including one to Patsy Colburn’s widower, Lee Colburn.

Fung split the rest of the property into five other land condominiums, four of which he envisioned as 5-acre sites for farm dwellings.

The remaining land includes 17 acres for the new Manager’s Ridge project.

Spencer Colburn, son of Lee and Patsy, said in a video promoting the project that developing the land will fulfill a vision of his late mother and provide affordable housing to local families.

“Our family has lived on Manager’s Ridge since the 1970s, almost 50 years,” he said. “And now we want to invite our community to be our neighbors and share in this legacy.”

The affordable homes at Manager’s Ridge are designed to be single-story plantation-style houses with two to four bedrooms on streets with grassy shoulders instead of sidewalks and with overhead electrical and communication lines.

According to the developer’s application to DPP, 28 of the 47 affordable homes would be reserved for households with annual incomes up to 120% of the median for Honolulu, which equates to $101,520 for a single person, $116,040 for a couple and $144,960 for a family of four.

The other 19 affordable homes would be reserved for households earning no more than 80% of the median income, which equates to $67,680 for a single person, $77,360 for a couple and $96,640 for a family of four.

In return for making half the project affordable to such households, Fung seeks a city exemption to allow the subdivision on the land under its existing zoning for agriculture.

The developer also seeks exemptions from alignment with the city’s Koolau Loa Sustainable Communities Plan and from holding a public hearing before the Honolulu Planning Commission.

About half the project site is within a rural residential growth boundary, and half is designated for agriculture under the Sustainable Communities Plan and a draft update intended to guide development in the region.

Fung also has requested city fee waivers that include water system charges amounting to about $360,000, a $14,490 subdivision filing fee and a requirement to provide 31,850 square feet of public park space.

Under the state’s affordable-housing law, known as 201H, the City Council may grant such exemptions.

Fung also would need the Council to remove 14 acres of the property from the state’s agricultural district. State law allows the Council to make such a decision instead of the state Land Use Commission because the boundary change involves less than 15 acres. The other 3 acres of the project site are within the state’s agricultural district.

DPP has until Aug. 2 to pass the application to the Council with a recommendation that could include approval, approval with conditions or rejection. Then the Council would hold public hearings and decide the fate of the plan.