John King, owner of All Pool & Spa, is proposing to more than triple the size of warehouse space on his property in Kapa'a Valley, a light-industrial park in Kailua.

The area now has less than 200,000 square feet of warehouse space and includes cabinet makers, automotive shops, granite works, a lumber yard and furniture stores among dozens of businesses. King wants to expand it to about 660,000 square feet of warehouse space. Hamakua Drive in Kailua and Kahuhipa Street in Kane'ohe include warehouse space and light industrial businesses, but both are near housing. The Kapa'a complex has no homes.

King owned warehouses on 6.5 acres of lease land in Kapa'a for many years before purchasing 78 acres there in fee simple from Kane'ohe Ranch in 2003.

He wants to expand the existing commercial and light industrial park on approximately 47 acres.

The site is off the main highway to Kailua next to an old landfill and Ameron Hawaii, a rock quarry. It sits above Kawai Nui Marsh, a recognized and important wetland.

"I've been full ever since I started building my warehouses," King said. "There's a demand for industrial space on the Windward side because Kane'ohe Ranch has changed almost all their property in Kailua Town to B2 (mixed business district)."

He said he's also filling space with Waimanalo businesses that have been operating on agriculture land but had to move because light industry is not allowed on agriculture land. The city has cited businesses for illegally operating on agriculture land.

"If you're not growing something on ag land, they're making them move out," King said. "A lot of those people are coming to me."

A draft environmental assessment has been filed with the Office of Environmental Quality Control, and the public has until Feb. 7 to comment.

A zone change for two parcels would be required from the general preservation district, or P-2 to intensive industrial district or I-2, an OEQC notice said.

The plan is to partially rebuild and expand the existing industrial park into a modern industrial area of about 47 acres and to leave the rest of the site in open space, according the to OEQC.

Donna Wong, planning and zoning chairwoman with the Kailua Neighborhood Board, said King presented the proposal at her committee meeting and before the Kailua board.

Water pollution to the marsh and the visual impact of the project could be concerns, but Wong said she had not seen the proposal or the draft environmental assessment.

The board will most likely comment when King submits an application for zone change, Wong said.

"Right now, it's premature to do anything until we really see what is being proposed," she said.

King said he plans to build slowly, taking about 18 years to complete the project that includes 9,700 feet of paved roads, 570 parking stalls, four loading docks, more than 9,100 feet of drainage lines or channel, and three detention ponds with a total storm-flow capacity of 123,500 cubic feet.

"I have an agreement with the government to fence and create ponds for the native birds," he said, adding that the wildlife area would be where green waste is now collected.