A developer’s plan to build homes in Manoa with greater density than allowed under existing zoning was the subject of a sometimes acrimonious and snippy public hearing Monday.
The city Department of Planning and Permitting held the hearing on an application by local development firm Avalon Group to build 93 homes on what had been the campus of Saint Francis School, which closed in 2019.
The 11.1-acre site bordering a far corner of the University of Hawaii is zoned for one single-family home per 7,500 square feet of land area, which would permit around 60 houses and require no special approval.
Avalon, however, wants to build 14 townhomes plus 79 detached dwellings with an option for buyers to have a studio with a kitchenette and a separate entry in place of one bedroom. This option, which the developer calls an “in-law suite,” makes the 79 homes two-family dwellings under city ordinance, so there are technically 172 homes being proposed in the project named Aria Lane.
DPP’s director has authority to approve the project under a “planned development housing,” or PD-H, permit, which is intended to allow higher-density housing on large parcels that possess development difficulties due to things that include steep slopes, varying soil quality, rock outcroppings, significant trees, streams, historic sites and cultural sites.
“PD-H projects can incorpo-rate unique features into the development as value-enhancing amenities while preserving their natural beauty and function,” the city explains in a development guidebook for such permits.
The Aria Lane site is next to Manoa Stream.
Christine Camp, Avalon president and CEO, said she is seeking the permit as a way to deliver more homes at lower prices in a market where more demand than supply is driving up housing costs and forcing local households to leave the state.
Some Manoa residents, especially many of those living along a narrow street that would be the sole access for the project, oppose the project largely over traffic concerns. They also question the need for more dense detached homes that Avalon estimates would sell for $1.5 million to $2.2 million, which compares with $2 million for an average Manoa single-family house.
Howard Luke, a more than 35-year resident of the 20-foot-wide access street, Pamoa Road, said Aria Lane will create a nightmare in the neighborhood.
“This road is much too narrow,” he said during Monday’s hearing.
Kelly Nishimura, who lives on Oahu but not in Manoa, said she doesn’t oppose responsible planning, but views Aria Lane as too dense.
“The plans for Aria Lane are not responsible,” she testified.
Longtime Manoa resident Ellen Sofio claimed that traffic caused by the project would have impacts to and from freeway connections outside the valley. “This is an egregious assault on our community,” she said at the hearing.
Also expressing concerns over traffic impacts at the hearing was state Sen. Carol Fukunaga (D, Manoa-Tantalus-Makiki).
The Manoa Neighborhood Board adopted a resolution in August to oppose Aria Lane in a 12-0 vote with one member abstaining.
Avalon representatives said vehicle trips to and from Aria Lane would be less than what existed previously with an operating school that had about 450 students and about 70 staff members, and that a traffic study projection showed no change in the level of congestion at three nearby intersections if Aria Lane is built.
Aria Lane is also planned with 378 parking spaces, including 33 guest stalls, to alleviate a need for future residents to park on the neighboring street.
Supporters of the project who testified Monday included representatives of Hawai‘i YIMBY (Yes in My Back Yard), Housing Hawai‘i’s Future, the carpenters union and about a dozen employees of Avalon or other companies involved in the project.
Dorothy Church, a UH employee living in Manoa faculty housing for a maximum three years, said she would love to live in Manoa long term, possibly at Aria Lane, where estimated townhome prices range from $450,000 to $800,000, including seven units the city requires under an affordable-housing requirement for moderate-income households.
“Manoa Valley desperately needs housing,” she said. Church also said that any increase in the supply of housing can help the broad market, and added, “Something is better than nothing.”
Edgardo Diaz Vega, a UH student, also expressed support for Aria Lane, saying traffic and parking won’t become worse and that neighbors would be mildly inconvenienced by more people moving into Manoa.
“Hawaii has a housing crisis,” he testified. “It does not have a parking crisis. It does not have a too-many-people crisis.”
The hearing, held in a DPP conference room at the Fasi Municipal Building and by videoconference, lasted about three hours.
At times some attendees in the room heckled, criticized and applauded others testifying, prompting repeated requests by DPP hearings officer Malynne Simeon to refrain from such behavior.
Camp said during the hearing that she has gotten hate mail from some Pamoa Road residents and that if she builds fewer homes, then they will be more expensive.
During a Honolulu Star-Advertiser editorial board meeting last week, Camp said 60 single-family homes likely would be priced for $3 million to $3.5 million to make a project under zoning for the site viable.
Camp said her first intention, after buying the property earlier this year from the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities for $23.35 million, was to develop a larger number of homes than currently proposed so they could be more affordable. That initial plan, she said, was scaled back after holding several community meetings.
Seth Kamemoto, who testified against Aria Lane at Monday’s hearing, said he doesn’t see where the valid justification is for giving the project the special higher-density permit being sought.
Noel Kent, a roughly 50-year Manoa resident, also expressed his opposition to DPP, saying the project will negatively affect traffic without positively affecting the housing market.
“We are in a terrible housing crisis,” Kent said. “This project I don’t think is going to improve that at all.”
At the public hearing, Camp said she could forgo the two-family residence option, though this would be a lost opportunity to serve multigenerational families.
“I do recognize that it’s an emotional time for (area residents), and I’m sorry,” she said. “But I believe the greater good here is to build housing here, and I’m trying to be thoughtful about what we do.”
