Three major development projects will get their first airing today before the City Council.
The 3,500-unit Koa Ridge development in Central Oahu, a major expansion for Laie and a controversial Ala Moana area condominium are all on the agenda for the meeting, which will be dominated by development issues as approval of zoning for each project is sought.
The 576-acre Koa Ridge plan, just north of Ka Uka Boulevard and the Waipio Costco, is the largest housing development to come before the Council since the 1,700-acre, 4,100-unit Makaiwa Hills project in Ewa, which won zoning approval in 2008.
But while Makaiwa Hills was only a segment of the larger Kapolei Master Plan that had already been underway, Koa Ridge represents the first phase of a long-planned, long-stalled Castle & Cooke plan to carve out a new community between Waipio and Mili­lani.
Besides a mix of homes, the Koa Ridge plan calls for a new Wahiawa Hospital Association medical facility, a commercial center, an elementary school, parks and possibly a hotel on what were formerly pineapple lands.
Some $100 million in traffic improvements is expected, including construction of a new H-2 interchange at Pineapple Road.
The city Planning Commission last month gave preliminary approval to rezone the property from agriculture to mixed urban use by a 5-0 vote. Koa Ridge won land reclassification from agricultural to urban use from the state Land Use Commission in June 2012.
A second phase of Koa Ridge, not included in this rezoning request, calls for 1,500 more homes and an elementary school.
Koa Ridge opponents include the Sierra Club of Hawaii, which objects to what it describes as urban sprawl.
Also expected to generate much debate and discussion is the city’s proposed update of the Koolauloa Sustainable Communities Plan that is designed to be a guideline for the region between Kaaawa and Turtle Bay.
The new plan recommends incorporating expansion plans spelled out in Envision Laie, a proposal spearheaded by Hawaii Reserves Inc., the local property management arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church also operates Brigham Young University Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center.
The changes would allow expansion of the BYUH campus in Laie, new housing in Malaekahana and additional commercial and business development in Laie and Malaekahana. It would also allow expansion of the Polynesian Culture Center.
The plan is opposed by the Defend Oahu Coalition, which also wants to eliminate a proposed expansion of Turtle Bay Resort from the community plan.
Also on today’s agenda is a rezoning request to allow a 120-unit apartment-condominium complex as high as 350 feet on the site of the Central YMCA on Atkinson Drive. The height limit is 150 feet.
Neighbors oppose the project, saying it will ruin views and increase traffic. The Ala Moana-Kakaako Neighborhood Board also voted to oppose the change to higher-density mixed-use apartment zoning.
In its zoning change application, the developer noted that 120 units and 228 parking spaces could be built under existing zoning, though space for new YMCA facilities would be reduced. That compares with 128 units and 283 parking spaces proposed for the higher tower.
The Council meeting begins at 10 a.m. at the Leeward Community College Campus Center Student Lounge.
