A developer apparently intends to resurrect a controversial plan to build vacation cabins on 181 acres of land near the Ka Iwi shoreline that failed to receive city approval last year.

A Nov. 9 letter to the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board from William McCorriston, attorney for QRM Inc., says that the developer is "considering submitting" an application for a permit needed for the cabins.

Neighborhood board members said they only received the notice Monday evening.

"I hardly slept last night thinking about this," said Gary Weller, chair of the board's subcommittee on planning and zoning.

Weller said he and others are frustrated because they have not been able to put a face to QRM since news of the plan resurfaced. The company is no longer working through Westwood Development Group, which presented the initial proposal before a standing-room-only crowd at a Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board meeting last year.

Neither McCorriston nor QRM could be reached for comment yesterday.

The letter requested a meeting with the neighborhood board "within 60 days" of the request, but as the board has adjourned for December, members hope that the presentation can be pushed to February.

"We're looking for some clarity," said Elizabeth Reilly, a neighborhood board member. "It would be good not to start off (the new year) with such an important issue behind the eight-ball from the community's perspective."

In September 2006, QRM's proposal to build 180 800-square-foot cabins along the Ka Iwi Coast was never processed by the Department of Planning and Permitting on the grounds that it was incomplete and had failed to prove that the cabins would be an accessory use to outdoor recreation in the area.

The project was planned for two parcels of land, one above Hawai'i Kai Golf Course and the other mauka of Kalaniana'ole Highway, across from the entrance to the Makapu'u Lighthouse hiking trail. A 7,500-square-foot recreation center also was proposed.

Both areas are zoned for preservation, meaning vacation cabins can be constructed only if they are shown to be a secondary use to outdoor recreation.

It was unclear yesterday whether any or all of the original aspects of the plan would be included in the new proposal, which will face additional requirements this time around.

In February, the Planning Commission approved amendments to the land-use ordinance relating to vacation cabins and indoor amusement and recreation facilities islandwide. This time around, the project will be reviewed for a conditional-use permit major, which requires the applicant to appear before the neighborhood board and undergo a public hearing process before the Department of Planning and Permitting considers it, city Planning Director Henry Eng said yesterday.

No public review process was required when QRM applied for a permit last year, although presentations were made before the neighborhood board. The decision ultimately was left up to the planning director.

Passage of the amendments was due in part to aggressive lobbying by community groups from across O'ahu, including Save Sandy Beach and Livable Hawaii Kai Hui, both of which protested the Ka Iwi development.

"I have faith in the process that we have in place, particularly because of the trigger for community involvement," said Reilly, who was active with Livable Hawaii Kai Hui in pressing for the amendments.

Others, however, are gearing up for another scuffle.

Yesterday, Weller was digging through piles of old files and rushing to compose an e-mail to rally the same community groups that were involved last time.

"We pretty much stopped because we thought it had ended," he said. "We shouldn't have been that naive, though."