HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Haleiwa Backyards Project proposal sits between Joseph P. Leong and Kamehameha Highway and stretches from North Shore Marketplace to Ace Hardware.
“Anyone who’s been to Haleiwa knows that it’s very quaint, charming, genuine, historic town that still has that plantation feel,” said Denise Antolini, North Shore resident.
The developer is looking to build roughly 160 low-rise apartment units with 30,000 square feet of office and retail space, parking and a wastewater management system.
“So, wastewater is a huge issue. The number of cars that this development would bring into an already congested area is also a really huge issue,” Antolini added.
The developer, Andy Anderson, said they plan to build their own wastewater treatment plant and said they do not plan to add people to North Shore but to relocate residents in areas like Waialua and Sunset so they can live closer to work.
During Tuesday’s, July 29, tsunami warning, the North Shore was gridlocked from Kahuku to Wahiawa, with cars at a standstill around Weed Circle.
“We were faced with the perfect scenario on Tuesday, I have said time and time again, that we have strained resources and limited options and that couldn’t have been proven in a bigger form than on Tuesday,” said Racquel Achiu Hill, North Shore Neighborhood board vice chair.
“It’s not just this project, it’s any project that is being put into an area that is so restricted and so limited on resources,” Hill added.
Despite roughly 1,000 testimonies against the project along with a petition, the city council’s zoning committee has moved Bill 37 along, and on Wednesday, Aug. 6, will decide in full council whether the lot should stay country or become urbanized.
“If this project goes through, I’m sure we will see lots of proposals to gobble up the other open space in Haleiwa,” Antolini said. “And pretty soon, Haleiwa will not be the charming rural plantation town that it is, you know that it has been for years.”
Bill 37 focuses strictly on the state land use district boundary being amended.
If it passes, the developer would still have to go back to the zoning committee for a zoning change.
Following last week’s hearing, Council Member Matt Weyer said he sent a letter to the developer to see if they would be open to selling the property to the city or local community groups with money from the Clean Water Natural Land Fund.
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Anderson said the community needs smart housing solutions and doing nothing is not an acceptable option.