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