If the City and County of Honolulu moves forward with a controversial multi-billion dollar rail transit system City Councilmember Gary Okino wants to control what springs up next to the rail line.

Okino introduced Bill 86 which passed first reading December 7th.

"My only intent was to ensure that we don't have [these] improper types of development, that we take advantage of the opportunities to redevelop areas around train stations," Okino said Wednesday during a meeting of a nine council members.

However land owners and developers say the intent of the bill went too far.

The measure essentially creates a development "dead zone" a quarter mile on either side of the rail line for a period of 12 months or until the enactment of a transit-oriented development zoning ordinance. The measure would also stop development within a half mile of any rail transit station.

Dean Uchida, the Executive Director of the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii testified against the bill during the hearing.

"It doesn't matter if it's a government project, a private project, a non-profit, anything,” he said. “Basically the wording of the bill puts all development to a stop, it just stops everything. There's no exemptions, there's no exclusions, there's nothing."

David Rae, a spokesman for Campbell Estate listed several projects in Kapolei that could grind to a halt if the measure became law in its current form.

“I think that right now [the way] it’s written, it would prevent processing of any permits,” Rae testified.

Jan Yokota, an executive with General Growth Properties which owns the Ala Moana Shopping Center and Ward Centers also expressed concern that development along the rail line would be impacted by Bill 86.

"We've initiated master planning of our entire sixty acre holding in the Ward areas,” said Yokota, General Growth’s Vice President of Development for the Hawaii Region. “This would greatly affect what we are doing there.”

Councilmember Barbara Marshall brought up her concern about potential litigation against the city from developers. She questioned Uchida about the possibility of lawsuits.

"Just my own personal opinion,” Uchida said, “I think it will be a large financial exposure to the city.”

“Millions, billions,” asked Marshall? Uchida replied half-jokingly, “Keep going.”

With so many unanswered questions council members sent Bill 86 back to the zoning committee with a unanimous vote. The measure will likely face a public hearing before it moves forward.

Henry Eng, the director of the city’s Planning and Permitting Department testified he favored the idea of a public hearing since his department had not formed an opinion on the bill.

“We believe it's prudent to provide ample opportunity for the public to provide input on a measure of this magnitude,” he said.