A community organization fighting Turtle Bay Resort expansion plans failed to get an answer Friday from the state Land Use Commission on whether a 1986 approval expanding the resort can be revisited. It was the second time in three years that the Defend Oahu Coalition has sought, but not received, an approval or rejection of its request.

The LUC failed to muster enough votes for a decision in 2010 following numerous deferrals after Defend Oahu first asked for a ruling in 2008.

On Friday, LUC members voted 6-0 to defer a decision until June after hearing five hours of arguments from the organization, resort officials, the state Office of Planning and the public.

Commission member Dennis Esaki suggested that a decision be deferred until after the next Legislative session to give more time for negotiations between the state and the resort owner to possibly reach a deal where the state pays to preserve the property from development.

"Kicking the can down the road" is how some coalition supporters regarded the commission’s decision.

It’s conceivable that development could proceed before then, given that the city accepted a final supplemental environmental impact statement for the expansion last month. Acompany managing the resort expansion plan, Replay Resorts Inc., has previously projected it could begin development next year.

It’s also questionable whether Defend Oahu’s move would have had a significant impact on plans to expand Turtle Bay even if it succeeds with its LUC action.

Defend Oahu argued that Turtle Bay failed to fulfill conditions and representations made to the LUC in seeking and receiving approval to increase the resort’s development area by 236 acres to 880 acres.

Condominiums and full-service hotels were initially planned for the expansion. Today a mix of time shares, condominium-hotels and single-family resort homes is envisioned, which Defend Oahu contends will produce far fewer jobs.

"It’s a very different project," Greg Kugle, an attorney representing Defend Oahu, told the LUC.

The organization wants the commissionto reclassify the 236 acres for agriculture and allow the resort’s owner to seek new approval for developing the site. "They need to start over," Kugle said. Turtle Bay officials contend that the 236-acre site shouldn’t be reclassified. But even if it were, much or all of the planned development could happen on the remaining portion of the resort.

The 236-acre site east of the existing 443-room Turtle Bay hotel was to expand the resort primarly with a golf course and 1,000 condos.The golf course was developed, but not the condos.

Another 1,063 condos and 1,450 hotel rooms were designated for land already zoned for urban use at the resort.

The resort’s owner, a coalition of investment firms, scaled back the original expansion plan as a compromise to balance community concerns with its financial interest. The current plan is to develop 750 residences and 625 hotel units that could be condo-hotel or time-share units. Some of the residences would be on the 236-acre site.

Resort officials previously said construction is projected to start next year on a 375-unit time share and 225 residences along Turtle Bay and Kawela Bay on land outside of the 236-acre portion of the property involving the LUC approval.

Construction of the estimated $770 million project is projected to take 10 years.