Revised Ordinances of Honolulu

(Link to original Word Processing Version)




     1. CENTRAL OAHU'S ROLE IN OAHU'S DEVELOPMENT PATTERN

Central Oahu plays a key role in implementing the directed growth policies of the General Plan of the City and County of Honolulu.

The towns of Waipahu and Wahiawa serve as gateways to Ewa and the North Shore. Historically, they have been headquarters for the sugar and pineapple plantations and support centers for the military. Beginning in 1968, Central Oahu also began to play a role as a major area for housing development. At that time, Castle & Cooke began development of Mililani Town, a 3,500-acre planned low-density suburban community which offered affordable single-family housing to first-time buyers. Subsequently, additional housing has been developed above Waipahu and the H-1 Freeway in Village Park, Gentry Waipio, Waikele, Royal Kunia, and other development projects.

In 1989, the Honolulu City Council approved changes to the General Plan which designated the urban fringe areas in Central Oahu as one of Oahu's principal residential development areas. Since then, Central Oahu, along with the Primary Urban Center (PUC) and the Secondary Urban Center and urban fringe areas in Ewa, has provided the bulk of the new housing developed on the island.

The General Plan also calls for maintaining the viability of agriculture on Oahu and specifically states that "sufficient agricultural land" should be provided "in Ewa, Central Oahu, and the North Shore to encourage the continuation of ... pineapple as [a] viable industry."

This update of the Central Oahu Sustainable Communities Plan reaffirms these roles and amplifies how they can be accomplished. In support of the General Plan policies, the Central Oahu Sustainable Communities Plan:

!    Promotes diversified agriculture and pineapple on 10,350 acres of prime and unique agricultural lands along Kunia Road, north of Wahiawa, surrounding Mililani, and on the Waipio Peninsula in accordance with the General Plan policies to support agricultural diversification in all agricultural areas and to encourage continuation of a viable pineapple industry;

!    Provides for the eventual development of up to 25,000 new homes in master planned residential developments at Mililani Mauka, Koa Ridge Makai, Waiawa, and Royal Kunia;

!    Provides for a variety of housing types from affordable units and starter homes to mid-size multi-family and single-family units;

!    Provides new employment in existing commercial and industrial areas (including Mililani Technology Park), in new commercial areas designed to serve their surrounding residential communities, and at a new medical park at Koa Ridge;

!    Identifies the infrastructure needed to meet the likely residential, commercial, and industrial development through 2025; and

!    Helps relieve urban development pressures on rural and urban fringe Sustainable Communities Plan Areas (Waianae, North Shore, Koolauloa, Koolaupoko, and East Honolulu) so as to preserve the "country" lifestyle of the rural areas and sustain the stable, low density residential character of the urban fringe areas.