Honolulu has been on a quest for a stadium that serves its needs for a large outdoor venue for a half-century, and it’s not yet found that ideal. Planning for the next edition has reached a pivotal point, with key questions to answer. How should residential development be brought into the mix, and what kind of entertainment and retail activities should be there?

But one question should be considered settled: A replacement for Aloha Stadium still makes sense in its current Halawa location, reachable by rail, central to the island’s communities.

The planners of the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District (NASED) last week underscored a commitment to the stadium itself as the keystone of the development complex, during a media conference held on Wednesday.

Likely they felt driven to reinforce that commitment because of a recent statement by three of Hawaii’s past governors who argued that the state needed the Halawa site to whittle down the affordable housing deficit.

Former Govs. Neil Abercrombie, Ben Cayetano and John Waihee argued that the stadium could be accommodated on the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus, and that affordable housing would represent a better use for the 98 acres of public land in Halawa.

That notion resonated with a lot of people for a reason: Affordable housing always has been touted as one of the critical social benefits of Honolulu’s long-delayed, costly rail system. And there was no better opportunity for delivering it in good measure than on the public land surrounding the planned Aloha Stadium transit stop.

The governors had other good rationales for speaking out. For one, the UH had not been given a seat at the stadium planning table, though its football program has been a core tenant.

Further, much of the recent discussion on the ambitious NASED enterprise, featuring a $400 million stadium, had focused on the revenue-producing commercial activities that are envisioned as key to the economic success of the complex, to be built out over 20 years. The idea is to attract developers who could shoulder a good share of the stadium’s cost up front, with the help of state financing as well.

But the public benefits — the stadium and a substantial affordable housing component — must be prominent parts of the yield. It was good to get reminders of that — from the former governors, and now from the NASED team, who formally announced that the request for proposals to replace the stadium would go out Dec. 15.

NASED identified three likely bidders: Aloha Stadium District Partners, Aloha Stadium Hui Hilina‘i and Waiola Development Partners.

David Harris, project director, said that the bids would include the developer’s price for a design-build-finance-maintain contract on the stadium itself, and that a faster timetable for its completion would earn points in the scoring of the bids. The planners have laid out their hopes for the district more broadly, too, to include more varied sporting and entertainments events for the stadium.

Chris Kinimaka, public works administrator for the state Department of Accounting and General Services, emphasized that a low bid was not sufficient to win the contract, that the state hopes to settle on a developer that would “best provide bang for the buck.”

All of that sounds great — a vibrant district will be attractive to residents and visitors alike — but success will depend on a balance that may prove difficult to achieve. Consider enterprises such as Aloha Tower Marketplace, which never produced the hoped-for financial success.

Kinimaka acknowledged that initial proposals noted the aim of providing 3,000 “workforce” residential units. But she added — ominously — that it will be up to the developers to produce a district that would be both “beneficial” and “not be a drain.”

What’s not being reckoned with, though, is that this is public property, and the public does have needs to meet that may not generate revenue — not the least of which is housing.

There are other things that bear watching, too. One is the new law giving the Stadium Authority greater control of the development coordination. That can be effective, but only if the public’s business is handled with transparency.

And the $170 million in general obligation bonds already allotted to NASED could double next year, lawmakers have said. Guardrails are needed to ensure it’s not diverted disproportionately to the private real estate projects, away from the public facilities.

Officials are now saying that the vision is to create a stadium that certainly avoids the traffic bottlenecks of the 1970s surrounding the old Honolulu Stadium, but recaptures some of the community engagement of that venue. Aloha Stadium has hosted countless memorable events, but it never had quite the same neighborhood vibe.

In order to bring that about, however, there needs to be neighborhoods to begin with. If this will be the live-work-play district that’s promised, the “live” part of the promise must be fulfilled.