A Hawai'i home builder is proposing what could be O'ahu's largest master-planned housing development ever — a massive long-term project between Waipahu and Kapolei on one of 'Ewa's biggest pieces of farmland.

The Schuler Division of D.R. Horton Inc. is doing early conceptual planning for the project, which according to a Schuler consultant could encompass 10,000 to 15,000 homes plus schools, parks and commercial development on 1,600 acres.

The tentative project needs a lot of community input, design work., and state and county approvals that likely will put construction five years away if planning progresses smoothly. Completing the project could take another 20 to 30 years.

If built, the community could rival the residential scale of Mililani or Hawai'i Kai, and would help fulfill the city's 'Ewa Development Plan that directs major residential growth to that area.

But the Schuler plan is sure to draw objections from Leeward residents already loudly complaining about traffic congestion that's being made worse by new housing in the area.

"I would favor more infrastructure — more roads — before building" more homes, said Kapolei resident Dan Fletcher. "It's gridlock in Kapolei."

Mike Jones, Schuler president, said the project will create substantial affordable housing and will be built around the city's mass-transit plan to accommodate future population growth with minimal burden on highway traffic.

"That's one of the beauties of this project," he said. "It can be built from the ground up around rail to make it conducive for people to ride rail instead of hopping on the freeway."

Jones said details of the project, such as how many homes there would be, are far off and largely will be shaped by community input that Schuler has been collecting for the last several months.

"This is a long process," he said. "We don't know what we are going to do there. We're trying to get a handle on how much residential, how much commercial."

A BRINGING TOGETHER

The Schuler project is tentatively named Ho'opili, literally meaning "to bring together," and is partially a reincarnation of a 1996 Schuler plan to build 8,000 homes on about 750 acres of former sugar land mostly owned by the Campbell Estate in the area.

Schuler's plan a decade ago, dubbed East Kapolei, won the endorsement of the city's chief planning official, but a weakening housing market and local economy led Schuler to cancel the plan in late 1996.

Recently, the developer rekindled and expanded its vision for the area. In March, Schuler purchased the 1,600 acres from the Campbell Estate for $71 million, according to property records.

The site is roughly bordered by the H-1 Freeway, 'Ewa Villages, Fort Weaver Road and the future North-South Road.

Jones said other projects advancing in the area, including plans for the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu, the North-South Road, the city's mass-transit plan and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands commercial and residential projects, helped convince Schuler it was a good time to pursue Ho'opili.

Over the last several months, the builder has held seven or eight meetings with community groups to share general planning concepts, and to receive suggestions and concerns.

Teri Ikehara, president of the West Loch Estates Homeowners Association, said she's excited about Schuler's plan because of its focus on mass-transit connections as well as development of schools, parks and job-creating commercial centers.

"I think it won't disrupt the (area)," she said. "I think it will improve it greatly. I'd like to move there."

SKEPTICAL OF OFFICIALS

Maeda Timson, chairwoman of the Makakilo/Kapolei/Ho-nokai Hale Neighborhood Board, said she appreciates being able to ask questions and give feedback before Schuler draws up plans.

"They are saying, 'What do you think?' " she said. "We can give input on what we feel, what a community should look like where our children will live."

Timson, who has lived in Makakilo since 1971, supports the city's 'Ewa Development Plan but is critical of city and state governments for not ensuring that infrastructure, including transportation and schools, kept pace.

"Any kind of development is scary because we're not sure how fast the city and state are going to do their job on transportation needs," she said. "Our transportation needs are not being met."

That issue, Timson said, will be critical if she is to support Ho'opili. "I wonder how it's going to pan out," she said.

Rodolfo Ramos, chairman of the 'Ewa Task Force formed by the 'Ewa Villages Community Association, shared a similar sentiment as a resident who's lived in the Waipahu and 'Ewa communities for 50 years.

"The issue is infrastructure," he said. "The existing infrastructure we have right now, it's inadequate. I've seen the growth, I've seen the changes. You're sitting in traffic 30 minutes just to get to the freeway."

Rail transit, Ramos said, will be key for Ho'opili coming to pass. Without rail, and perhaps other transportation alternatives such as a ferry, he can't imagine such a large housing development.

"Sixteen hundred acres — that's a lot," he said. "That's the last ('Ewa) area that hasn't been planned."

FALLOW AG LANDS

The Ho'opili site was once part of verdant sugar cane fields that went fallow in 1995 when Oahu Sugar Co. got out of the business.

Over the last decade, diversified-crop farmers have leased much of the land, including Aloun Farms, Larry Jefts Farms and others.

Larry Jefts, who has grown watermelons, tomatoes, bell peppers and other crops on the 'Ewa property, said that when he started planting there a decade ago, he understood farming would be a secondary, interim use until the city's housing development plan sprouted.

"It's been in the plan a long time," said Jefts, who has other farms around the state. "It's not a surprise. It's not a distress for us."

PRESERVATION PLANNED

The city has identified some ag land to preserve. According to the city's 'Ewa Development Plan last updated in 2000, high-value former Oahu Sugar Co. farmland to be preserved for agriculture covers 3,000 acres mauka of the H-1 Freeway on the Wai'anae side of Kunia Road, and in the West Loch Naval Magazine's blast zone bordering Ewa by Gentry.

The city forecasts that the number of homes on the 'Ewa Plain will roughly double from about 25,000 today to about 60,000 by 2030, primarily from master-planned communities including Ocean Pointe, Villages of Kapolei, Ewa by Gentry, Mehana and Makaiwa Hills.

Of these, Ewa by Gentry is the biggest, with about 7,200 planned units, roughly 6,000 of which have been built. Ocean Pointe will eventually have 4,850 homes. Ko Olina Resort & Marina is expected to have a total of 4,450 homes.

Ho'opili would likely be the biggest.

Charlier Associates Inc., a consultant providing transportation planning for Ho'opili, said on its Web site that the fully built project would encompass 10,000 to 15,000 residential units.

Jones, Schuler's president, said he can't make a good estimate on the number of homes because the project is only in an early planning stage. But, he said, there would be fewer than 16,300 homes allowed in the city's 'Ewa Development Plan for the property.

By comparison, master-planned Mililani has roughly 11,000 homes. Hawai'i Kai has about as many. A planned Wai-awa project by Gentry Homes will have 10,000 to 12,000 homes.

LONG TIME HORIZON

As planning progresses, Schuler expects to hold more community meetings to further refine the company's plan for Ho'opili.

The project requires a land-use change from agricultural to urban by the state Land Use Commission, and rezoning by the City Council. An environmental impact statement also is required.

Under city standards for affordable housing, 30 percent of Ho'opili homes would be affordable for middle-income families.

If approved, build-out could take 20 to 30 years, depending on market demand, Jones said. "It's a long, long time horizon."

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.