A developer who plans to carve a 45-acre marina out of a North Kona lava field will also build two miles of road to ease Kailua traffic congestion, and may construct 500 to 1,000 affordable "workforce" housing units, according to newly released details on the proposed project.

The additional housing could ease a crunch in West Hawai'i, where rents and housing prices are at sky-high levels. While jobs are plentiful in Kona, workers can't afford to live there, so many drive hours to get to work each day.

Spokesmen for the Kona Kai Ola project declined to estimate how much of an investment Atlanta-based Jacoby Development Inc. expects to make in the 530-acre waterfront commercial village planned near the edge of Kailua, Kona.

However, the cost of merely excavating the marina near the Honokohau Small Boat Harbor will be enormous. As a condition of the lease, the state is requiring the developer to build an 800-slip marina out of a lava field. Jacoby representative David Tarnas said that would require at least a 12-foot-deep excavation over the entire 45 acres, and the excavation might have to be deeper.

The project would be built on 350 acres of state land and about 200 acres of Hawaiian Home Lands near Honokohau. The state Department of Land and Natural Resources selected Jacoby as the developer in 2004, but is not expected to actually sign a lease with Jacoby for the 350 acres until next year.

Tarnas said the developer plans to provide a 42-acre shoreline park as part of the project, which would include 1,800 timeshare units and three hotels with a combined total of 670 to 770 hotel rooms. It also would include 52 acres of commercial development along the Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway.

"We really want this to be a place that can bring what is really Kona out in front, a place where people can enjoy themselves and focus on the character of Kona," he said.

OCEAN WATER COOLING

Buildings in the project would be cooled by ocean water pumped into a cooling plant near the mauka edge of the development, and water discharged from that cooling process will be used to feed a series of man-made salt water lagoons that would flow back into the marina, Tarnas said.

That water circulation will keep the marina cleaner and more clear than an ordinary boat harbor, he said.

Big Island County Council Chairman Stacy Higa said the project promises to "put Kona on the map as one of the premier harbor destinations in the world." However, Higa said, county officials will have to study the project carefully when it is submitted for rezoning and other approvals.

"I want to support this, but the community benefit has to far outweigh the drawbacks," Higa said. "I think roads and traffic will be an issue."

TRAFFIC CONCERNS

Long, daily traffic tie-ups in the Kailua area have prompted some residents to call for a moratorium on new development until the state and county can build a network of roads adequate to accommodate more growth.

One Kailua resident who is questioning the pace of growth is Doug Parker, who owns a business doing home and commercial property inspections for buyers and sellers. Parker has urged the County Council to hold off on new rezonings until the county has completed a new Kona community development plan.

"Once you develop it, there's no turning back," Parker said of the Honokohau project. "I think that it's kind of overwhelming for an infrastructure that can't even handle what we have, or what we have on the books with approved development as it is."

Tarnas said the Kona Kai Ola project will help ease area traffic congestion because the developer plans to build a two-mile road from the Kealakehe Parkway at its intersection with Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway across the development site and other private lands to the Kuakini Highway near the old Kona airport. That road would be build before the rest of the project so the public can use it as soon as possible, he said.

EMPLOYEE HOUSING

The developer also plans to provide shuttle service from the project site to the surrounding areas and back, and is seeking permission to build employee housing on state lands near Kealakehe High School that have been earmarked for affordable housing.

Plans also call for a hands-on marine education center for use by area schools, a six-acre site within the development for community gatherings or events, and a man-made wetland habitat for birds that frequent the area.

The developer plans to produce a master development plan for the project, plans for the core infrastructure and a draft environmental impact statement by the end of this year, Tarnas said. Construction is tentatively planned to begin in 2008. Completing the entire development would take about a dozen years, he said.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.