Hawaii Supreme Court rules in favor of D.R. Horton’s $4.6B Hoopili project

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D.R. Horton gets OK for 11,750-home Hoopili project in West Oahu

D.R. Horton gets OK for 11,750-home Hoopili project in West Oahu

D.R. Horton – Schuler Homes’ long-planned 11,750-home master-planned Hoopili project in Ewa in West Oahu is moving ahead after the Hawaii State Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Texas developer, saying that the state Land Use Commission properly reclassified the 1,525 acres for the project from agricultural to urban, according to a ruling Tuesday.

The Hawaii Supreme Court ruled against the appeal made by Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter and former state Sen. Clayton Hee, who argued the LUC’s reclassification of land for Hoopili violated part of the state constitution that dealt with conserving these types of lands for agricultural uses.

Sierra Club and Hee also argued that the LUC should not reclassify lands that the City and County of Honolulu could potentially designate as important agricultural lands in the future.

But in the end, the state Supreme Court said that “substantial evidence supported the LUC’s additional findings that the reclassification would not substantially impair agricultural production.”
Judge Richard Pollack, associate justice of the state Supreme Court, disagreed with the ruling. Click here to read his 26-page dissenting opinion on the case.

In October, the LUC ruled against reconsidering its 2012 decision to change the use of the land after an appeal had been filed by Friends of Makakilo.

Traffic and the diversion of potential agricultural lands have been the two main concerns that opponents have with the project.

In addition to single- and multi-family homes, Hoopili would also include commercial and light industrial space, community facilities, schools, parks and open space, facilities, commercial farming and utilities.

D.R. Horton also has gifted the Hawaiian Humane Society and the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center for new West Oahu campuses. There’s also a planned 38-acre retail center by The MacNaughton Group and Kobayashi Group.

D.R. Horton, through its top executive in Hawaii, said that it could start construction on the $4.6 billion project in 2016.

D.R. Horton gets OK for 11,750-home Hoopili project in West Oahu

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D.R. Horton gets OK for 11,750-home Hoopili project in West Oahu

D.R. Horton gets OK for 11,750-home Hoopili project in West Oahu

D.R. Horton — Schuler Division’s rezoning request for its $4.6 billion, 11,750-home Hoopili master-planned community in West Oahu won unanimously approval Wednesday from the Honolulu City Council, a vice president for the developer confirmed to PBN.

The council voted 9-0 in favor of the Ewa development, said Cameron Nekota, vice president of D.R. Horton — Schuler Homes.

The Texas-based developer, which requested that the 1,289-acres of land be rezoned from agriculture to urban, already has received the approval for the zoning change from the state Land Use Commission.

D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) hopes to begin construction in 2016.

In the past couple of months, the developer donated five acres at Hoopili to the Hawaiian Humane Society for a second campus and another acre to the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center for a new clinic.

The project also is supposed to include a major solar energy farm.

Honolulu firms The MacNaughton Group, Kobayashi Group and BlackSand Capital are under contract to buy 33 acres of land near Hoopili, which could become a retail center, as first reported by PBN.

The companies are well-known developers of retail and residential projects in Hawaii.

Opponents of the master-planned community argue that it will take away prime agricultural lands and cause even more traffic jams along the already congested West Oahu corridor.

Duane Shimogawa
Pacific Business News

Honolulu City Council will consider rezoning for D.R. Horton’s West Oahu Hoopili development

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D.R. Horton – Schuler Division’s rezoning request for its 11,750-home Hoopili master-planned community in West Oahu is expected to go before the Honolulu City Council on Feb. 18, a council member’s senior adviser confirmed to PBN.

D.R. Horton will ask to have the land rezoned from agricultural to urban. The state Land Use Commission already has approved the zoning change.

Ikaika Anderson, chair of the Council’s Zoning and Planning Committee, is expected to ask Council Chairman Ernie Martin to include the Hoopili project on the Feb. 18 agenda, said Gail Myers, senior adviser to Anderson.

“We anticipate that he will,” she said in an email to PBN. “Providing that the bill passes first reading, it will be referred to the Committee on Zoning and Planning. The Council agenda posts on Feb. 12, at which time we will be certain that Bill 3 appears on that agenda.”

D.R. Horton hopes to begin construction in 2016.

This week, PBN first reported that Honolulu firms The MacNaughton Group, Kobayashi Group and BlackSand Capital are under contract to buy 33 acres of land near Hoopili, which could become a retail center. The companies are well-known developers of retail and residential projects in Hawaii.

Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News

D.R. Horton’s 11,750-home Hoopili project in West Oahu may start construction in 2016

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Supporters of Hoopili are seen in this file photo gathering in Downtown Honolulu before a Hawaii Land Use Commission hearing two years ago. The project's developers recently submitted its rezoning application to the City and County of Honolulu's Department of Planning and Permitting.

Supporters of Hoopili are seen in this file photo gathering in Downtown Honolulu before a Hawaii Land Use Commission hearing two years ago. The project’s developers recently submitted its rezoning application to the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting.

D.R. Horton — Schuler Homes LLC plans to tentatively start construction on Hoopili, its 11,750-home master-planned community in Ewa in West Oahu, sometime in 2016, the head of the project told PBN.

Cameron Nekota, the vice president for D.R. Horton — Schuler Homes who is in charge of all of its real estate acquisition efforts as well as overseeing the Hoopili project, said that the developer hopes to start delivering homes to people sometime in 2017.

The Texas-based developer, which got the approval from the Hawaii Land Use Commission about two years ago to change the land designation from agricultural to urban, recently submitted its rezoning application to the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting.

The developer is seeking to rezone 1,289 acres of land. The department has 90 days from Aug. 1 to make a recommendation to the city’s Planning Commission, which would then put it on its agenda for a public hearing.

The Hoopili project, which is being designed by Honolulu-based Group 70 International, calls for 264 acres to be kept as agricultural lands that will be used for commercial agriculture, community gardens, open space and infrastructure.

In addition to single- and multi-family homes, Hoopili would also include commercial and light industrial space, community facilities, three elementary schools, one middle school, a high school, parks and open space, facilities and utilities.

Opponents of the master-planned community argue that it will take away prime agricultural lands and cause even more traffic jams along the already congested West Oahu corridor.

Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News

D.R. Horton submits rezoning plans to Honolulu for 11,750-home Hoopili project

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Supporters of Hoopili are seen in this file photo gathering in Downtown Honolulu before a Hawaii Land Use Commission hearing two years ago. The project’s developers recently submitted its rezoning application to the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting.

D.R. Horton — Schuler Homes LLC has submitted its application to the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting for the rezoning of 1,289 acres of agricultural land to urban for its 11,750-home master-planned community in Ewa in West Oahu called Hoopili.

The East Kapolei project, which is being designed by Honolulu-based Group 70 International, calls for 264 acres to be kept as agricultural lands that will be used for commercial agriculture, community gardens, open space and infrastructure.

Besides the single and multi-family homes, Hoopili also includes commercial and light industrial space, community facilities, three elementary schools, one middle school, a high school, parks and open space, facilities and utilities.

D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) hopes to start construction on the Hoopili project in 2015 and deliver the first homes shortly after.

About two years ago, the Hawaii Land Use Commission voted in favor of changing the land designation for Hoopili.

Opponents of the master-planned community argue that it will take away prime agricultural lands and cause even more traffic jams along the already congested West Oahu corridor.

Cameron Nekota, vice president for D.R. Horton — Schuler Homes, who is in charge of all of its real estate acquisition efforts, in addition to overseeing the Hoopili project, did not immediately return messages left by PBN.

Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News