More than 150 Aiea-area residents overwhelmed a state Department of Land and Natural Resources public hearing Wednesday evening to share their views, which were heavily negative, about a zip line business proposed for a forested area just beyond a Waimalu residential neighborhood.

The hearing at the Waimalu Elementary School cafeteria was held as part of an early step in a conservation district use permit application sought by the proposed project’s developer, an affiliate of Towne Development of Hawaii Inc.

Towne proposes the $1 million attraction with seven pairs of zip lines zigzagging between two forested ridges above the Royal Summit neighborhood.

The developer is proposing the zip line as part of a "nature park" where customers would be educated about the ecosystem at a 1,200-square-foot nature center and on the way to the thrill ride.

A 447-acre property that is proposed for the project and owned by Towne is zoned for conservation use, which allows nature parks, though a conservation district use permit is needed from DLNR.

Some opponents at the meeting suggested that the zip line is the economic basis for the project, and that a nature center is an excuse to obtain a permit.

Newtown resident Roy Suzuki, noting that the name of the project is Waimalu Nature Park, said, "We should not fall for this ruse."

In written testimony, Beverly Wilcox, an 18-year resident of Kaahele Street, which leads to the Towne property, called the zip line a "profit-making tourist attraction under the halfhearted guise of preserving nature."

Wilcox suggested that zip lines, the first of which was developed in Hawaii in 2002, were never intended to be an allowed use in a conservation district.

"Throwing in a ‘nature center’ and ‘tours’ should not be a get-around," Wilcox wrote. "Are we to believe that the developer would proceed with the ‘nature’ part if told the lucrative zip line could not be built?"

Another major point of opposition was traffic generated by the proposed project.

Towne projects that it would run an average of 15 tours a day and no more than 25 a day at the maximum. Tour groups would be picked up at a collection point, possibly in Pearl City or Aiea, at hotels or other locations and brought to the property in vans making an estimated 33 round trips a day. The company also said customers won’t be allowed to drive or walk onto the property.

Residents said that much traffic would be too much. "We have enough traffic on Kaahele Street," said Margie Davis, a Harbor Terrace homeowner.

Towne, in an environmental assessment, said the zip line operation would have a minor impact on traffic and will be unseen and unheard from neighboring properties. The assessment also said better stewardship of the property will eliminate a trespassing problem that has concerned neighbors, and will include a native plant restoration effort that benefits the environment.

"The proposed Waimalu Nature Park and Zipline Canopy Tour can achieve a low-impact economic use of the unique property," the developer said in the assessment. "In the absence of some managed program, the status of native plants on the property will inevitably degrade, and the project could thus lead to a substantial overall net benefit for native flor."

Chris Lau, executive vice president of Towne, told residents at the meeting that the project should have an overall beneficial impact on the community.

"We want to be good neighbors," he said. "We want to work with the community to be responsible neighbors."

Lau’s view, however, was disputed by resident after resident.

Jerry Matsuda, a representative of the Newtown Estates Community Association, sent DLNR a petition signed by 1,488 people opposing the project.

Also testifying against the project at the hearing were City Councilman Breene Harimoto, state Sen. David Ige and Rep. Mark Takai. The Aiea Neighborhood Board voted unanimously to oppose the project earlier this month.

Sam Lemmo, administrator of DLNR’s Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands, who served as the hearing officer, said he will use the public input to produce a report that will recommend a position to the Board of Land and Natural Resources. The board will also hold its own public hearing on the proposed zip line project before making a decision on the permit being sought.

If Towne obtains necessary permits, it projects that construction could begin by midyear and be finished six months later.