Plans to redevelop a key section of Haleiwa town won approval from the City Council Zoning and Planning Committee on Thursday, despite opposition from the North Shore Outdoor Circle and others worried it might harm an adjacent Hawaiian fishpond.

Resolution 16-133 gives Lokea Kai Partners a special management area use permit to put a single-story, 5,200-square-foot commercial building on the site of a former gas station.

What opponents find objectionable is that the parcel also fronts a good portion of centuries-old Loko Ea Pond, believed to have historical and cultural significance.

The resolution now goes to the full Council for a final vote on June 1.

Lokea Kai official Michael Wright said a surf shop is already committed to taking a majority of the retail space. He expects one or two other “low impact” tenants, none of which would be full-blown restaurants requiring grease traps.

“We have designed what we feel is a very appropriately scaled, one-story retail project of 5,000 square feet,” Wright said.

The Chevron gas station, which Wright said dates to the 1930s, was demolished in 2008. Only recently was remediation of the site completed by Chevron, he said.

But Bill Quinlan, a member of the North Shore Outdoor Circle, urged the committee to delay a vote on the SMA. That would give opponents time to meet with representatives of Lokea Kai and the Queen Lili‘uokalani Trust, which owns the fee title to the property, to work out a compromise that would preserve the area while providing fair compensation to Lokea Kai and the trust.

Quinlan said that after a meeting with key parties last week, the Outdoor Circle is “pretty confident” the project could be averted.

“This is the jewel of Hawaiian culture in Haleiwa,” Quinlan said. “We need to treat this jewel with respect. We need to find a way to protect it no matter what.”

SMA permits are supposed to be approved only if there is a compelling public interest that outweighs any effects, he said. “I’m having trouble understanding why another surf shop in Haleiwa is a compelling interest.”

Kathy Whitmire, another North Shore Outdoor Circle member, also asked for a halt to the SMA process.

The project calls for a septic tank with fields to allow the residue to leach into the soil, Whitmire said, and Kamehameha Schools, which owns the pond, asked Lokea Kai to move the tank farther away from the pond. Stormwater runoff from the project, meanwhile, would flow into the pond, as well as the river and the ocean, she said.

Written testimony in opposition to the project also came from Malama Loko Ea Foundation, a nonprofit that conducts educational programs, as well as volunteer conservation and restora- tion efforts at the fishpond and nearby Ukoa Marsh.

“We believe the effects of development/construction/sewage/parking and public access would harm the environmental and cultural elements and alter the view plane of the (fishpond),” foundation Executive Director Rae DeCoito wrote.

Justin Murata, real estate manager for the Liliuokalani Trust, said it has a lease with Lokea Kai and is not in a position to stop the plan unless Wright approves.

“He’s made it clear he would like to go ahead with the project,” Murata said. “As we are in a legal agreement with him, we have to honor that agreement.”

Wright said that while he appreciates the concerns raised by opponents, he will not consider altering the project.

“I love the pond, too. It’s a phenomenal asset,” Wright said. “We’re very much respecting the history of the pond and the cultural significance of it.”

Lokea Kai planner Jeff Overton said the state Department of Health will need to approve the wastewater facility. Archaeological and cultural studies were done and “we paid a lot attention to the fishpond and water quality,” Overton said.

Overton said a fence has blocked the view of the pond from Kamehameha Highway. Adjacent to the project, a stretch of vacant land about the size of a soccer field will remain.

City Planning Director George Atta said the project plan is allowed under existing B-1 business zoning.

The effects on the view plane would be the same as what existed when the gas station was active, Atta said.

“We don’t view this change as a significant change in the viewing plane,” he added.

Atta also said he did not think an individual wastewater system that’s planned for the site would pose an environmental threat so long as it is properly maintained.