The young Ho‘opili housing development near Kapolei has been touted as a contemporary, comfortable mixed-use neighborhood, adjacent to rail and built to modern standards. The first residents moved in in 2016.

This year, when some of those residents began seeing Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) workers installing bases for rows of tall poles carrying overhead electrical lines, adjacent to their homes and through the neighborhood, it took them by surprise.

These high-transmission lines are distinct from the home-to-home power lines laid underground in the development, and HECO has explained that since Ho‘opili’s developer, D.R. Horton, is not interested in paying the estimated $18 million to underground them, these poles are the only option. But that doesn’t sit right with many residents, and we can see why.

Residents should not be expected to like the idea of living next to, or overshadowed by, an array of 46-kilovolt lines on poles 65 feet high. HECO and D.R. Horton are well aware that communities prefer lines to be undergrounded, as Public Utility Commission (PUC) standards require HECO to explore alternatives to stringing wires before choosing that course.

Last week, HECO paused the work to hold discussions with residents. As the transmission lines are in a very early stage, it would serve HECO and D.R. Horton if some alternative more palatable to residents can be found.

The earliest residents of Ho‘opili, in particular, might be expected to object to this project. Advance descriptions of Ho‘opili in development and environmental assessments noted that the house-to-house electrical and phone lines serving Ho‘opili would be laid underground.

HECO first applied for approval of its Kulanihakoi Substation Project in November 2020, and the PUC approved the project last November.

There was a “virtual” public meeting and a presentation before the Kapolei/Makakilo Neighborhood Board last October. The Ho‘opili Homeowners Association released a bulletin describing the project in March, with illustrations of the substation and a map of the transmission line. But many residents did not note the size of the poles, or register the overground placement of the lines.

Once the poles started to go up, though, on sidewalks and only a few feet from people’s yards, people noticed.

Ho‘opili will need additional power, as more of the 12,000 or so homes planned for the development are built out. These high-transmission lines will connect to a new substation in Ho‘opili to transmit this power. While the lines don’t have to be overground, the problem is expense.

The overhead option is estimated to cost about $6.7 million. Putting the lines underground would cost about $25.1 million, the utility said — an added cost D.R. Horton stated it was “not interested” in paying.

Hawaiian Electric and D.R. Horton held an informational meeting Monday night for Ho‘opili residents; of the 100 or so in attendance, all said they had no advance word of HECO’s project.

Residents are also worried about possible safety issues, as well as the effect of the looming posts and overhead lines on the value of their homes.

Though HECO tried justifying the project by noting that there are other transmission lines nearby, these lines along Kualakai Parkway are about 200 feet from the closest homes, and much farther from most others.

Hawaiian Electric may be within its rights to build the towering poles through the neighborhood. But if D.R. Horton’s handling of the dispute leaves residents frustrated and combative, it will affect the development’s reputation, at the very least.

The developer should facilitate an alternative with HECO that recognizes residents’ legitimate concerns, and ensures that these — and future — power lines in the development don’t loom over Ho‘opili residences.