Plans for expansion of developments within little more than six miles of each other could dramatically change the character of Oahu’s North Shore. Residents of the area need to pay close attention and let their concerns be known to ensure that some semblance of "country" is maintained.
The Lingle administration once proposed that the state acquire the Turtle Bay Resort and surrounding land, but it was too complicated — and expensive — to work.
The new owners of the resort are proposing a scaled-back version of the previous owner’s ambitious plan for the 880-acre total property between Kahuku and Sunset Beach.
In a separate venture down the coast, a 223-room Marriott hotel is planned next to the Polynesian Cultural Center as part of larger development plans by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around Laie.
The Marriott hotel request for a special management area use permit is before the City Council. In contrast, the Turtle Bay owners already have land-use, zoning and other discretionary approvals — under a generous 1986 unilateral agreement forged when the area was hungry for new jobs and favored expansion — so can move forward with this project after it undergoes public comment periods.
A 30-day period for comment on the broad aspects of the expansion is to be followed by another comment period on a subsequent detailed version of a supplemental environmental impact statement, including traffic and environmental concerns and mitigation.
Unlike previous rancor between property owner and expansion critics, it’s encouraging that the tone so far has remained cordial, yielding extensive dialogue that has culminated with the proposed plan.
Critics of this $1.2 billion Turtle Bay project acknowledge the scaling-down of the 2005 plan by the Oaktree Capital Management LLC, the previous owner, which proposed 3,500 units and five hotels; and of the draft plan of 2,345 units floated by Turtle Bay Resort LLC in March.
The new plan is for 1,375 hotel rooms and residences on either side of the existing 443-room hotel — a commendable scale-back, but it’s still 1,375 more rooms.
Opponents remain "a little disappointed," said Kathleen Pahinui, vice chairwoman of the North Shore Neighborhood Board.
"They’ve done some nice things but, at the end of the day, we don’t think they’ve addressed the bigger picture," she told the Star-Advertiser.
She expressed concern that the plan, while reducing hotel and condo units, like the prior proposal, "takes up the entire coastline."
The original Turtle Bay Resort owners prepared an environmental impact statement for plans in 1985 but the state Supreme Court ruled last year that it was outdated.
That ruling has prompted the current owners to submit a supplemental EIS and a series of steps that it entails, including an archeological survey of possible Hawaiian burial remains, capped by submittal of the plan to the city.
Some community leaders say they will seek to block what they see as a plan that will worsen already unbearable traffic and spoil the undeveloped coastline.
Now is the time for North Shore residents to express these and other concerns if they want to have a say in the direction and scope of growth.
The proposed visions for the Turtle Bay Resort and the Laie expansion are distinct and separate ventures. Each alone has the capacity to shift the character of the North Shore; factored together, they will bring a host of changes. How much, and how they’re handled, will be vetted in a process that now picks up with earnest.
