Kahuku resident Mark Cunningham said he believes the beauty of O'ahu's North Shore is something to be shared, but that building more hotels and condos in the area goes too far and will threaten what people enjoy about the area.

"Enough is enough," he said. "The island of O'ahu is only so big. When do we say we have enough hotels, we have enough houses? ... God bless the visitor industry, but is more necessarily better?"

Cunningham was among more than 80 North Shore residents and others who held signs in front of the Turtle Bay Resort yesterday to protest its planned expansion, which includes five new hotels with 3,500 rooms and condominium units, as well as four public parks.

Turtle Bay Resort is owned by investment firm Oaktree Capital Management.

The expansion is based on an agreement reached in 1986 by developers, the city, the state and members of the North Shore community. Cunningham and others who protested the expansion yesterday said the 20-year-old plan needs to be re-examined and that it will affect traffic, infrastructure and the environment on the North Shore.

The revival of the plan prompted a lawsuit in May by Keep the North Shore Country and the Sierra Club's Hawai'i chapter that seeks an updated environmental impact statement to add to the one done about 20 years ago.

Some Kahuku residents have supported the expansion because it would bring jobs to the North Shore.

The Turtle Bay employees' union, UNITE HERE Local 5, filed a similar lawsuit in February but dropped it after its July contract settlement with resort management. A Local 5 spokesman said the union still has concerns about the project, which many of its members oppose, and that it will work to facilitate discussions between Oaktree and concerned community groups.

Turtle Bay developer Kuilima Resort Co. CEO Nicola Jones said in a statement released yesterday:

"We know that there have been misunderstandings about our intentions for the Kuilima project, and this shows we have much more work ahead of us. We're confident that once we're able to sit down and respectfully share our views with each other that we'll be able to work closely together once again to create a project that we can all be proud of. The community's input has been integral to this process, and we want to continue that same commitment going forward."

Protesters yesterday lined Kamehameha Highway across from Turtle Bay Resort, holding signs reading "No Turtle Bay Expansion! Keep the Country Country" and "No Cement North Shore! Protect Rural Oahu."

"The considerations for this area are just huge because of the natural resources here, the ocean and the open spaces that everyone on O'ahu loves to come here to enjoy," said North Shore resident Tinker Blomfield. "And if we start letting people build resorts here, it just doesn't equate. Maybe it did 20 years ago, but now it just doesn't ... Visitors to Hawai'i come here because they like to spend time in the country. They like to see rural Hawai'i ... But if there's no countryside left, you might as well go to Miami."

Blomfield said there are other ways to create employment on the North Shore that are "based on the people's needs, not the tourists' needs."

North Shore resident Diana Novoselic, a real-estate woman, said she understands the importance of development and the jobs it can create.

"But the North Shore has a very limited infrastructure to get in and out of, and that's going to impact the community in many ways," she said. "We're already impacted by it. The traffic is getting worse and worse, and we're starting to live in a community where it's kind of like the parade comes to town every holiday and weekend."

Mike Takahashi, a 55-year-old Sunset Beach resident, said he has surfed on the North Shore since he was 16.

"I've walked the stretch of beach from one end all the way up to Kahuku, and this area here is the last stretch of pristine sand dunes, and it's something that once it's lost, it will never be recovered," he said. "The North Shore is a lifestyle. We want to be able to share that with everyone on O'ahu, and if you take this kind of stuff away, there will be nothing left to share."

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.