Supporters say it will create construction jobs for years to come. Opponents say it will cause added freeway congestion.Makai of the H-2 freeway sits 575 acres of land that Castle & Cooke wants for development of 3500 new homes, a medical complex, school and community center.
Thursday, the Land Use Commission gave approval for the initial phase of the project.
"It's certainly good news and we're very hopeful in October we'll get the final approval," said Bruce Barrett of Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii.
A smaller portion of the project mauka of the H-2, Koa Ridge Waiawa, still needs to meet certain conditions before the Land Use Commission grants approval to rezone the land.
"We have a lot of people who have been waiting for it a long time," said Barrett.
"It's difficult to find a place to buy in Mililani seems the market is saturated already with buyers so we're looking forward to the opportunity to buy a new home in the area," said Rita Ebert, a Mililani resident.
The Sierra Club of Hawaii had asked the commission to deny the reclassification citing adverse impacts on traffic.
"It's clear the experts don't know what the impacts of this additional 2k-3k new cars on the freeway will do," said Robert Harris of the Sierra Club Hawaii.
"Well it's gonna be more traffic and that's gonna be hard for anybody that lives up here because we already got a lot of traffic," said Shery, a Waipio resident.
Castle & Cooke says it's working with the Department of Transportation on roadway improvements along Ka Uka Boulevard and the freeway interchange.
"Also disappointed this is farm land that has been producing food for Hawaii productively over the past couple of decades, now paving it over," said Harris.
The project has gained strong support by members of the carpenter's union.
"Projects like this certainly do give economic stimulus in terms of creating thousands of jobs," said Barrett.
If the development gets final approval next month, Castle & Cooke would also need the green light from the city to rezone the land. The first set of Koa Ridge homes could be completed by the end of 2012.
The Sierra Club says it's considering all legal options including filling an appeal on today's land use decision.
