Kapi'olani Community College's plan to build a $32 million Culinary Institute of the Pacific on the slopes of Diamond Head drew mixed reactions from residents this week, with some concerned about traffic and noise, and others welcoming the facility as an alternative to the vacant skate park it has become.

On Wednesday, architects, school officials and legislators held the first of a series of meetings with people living near the site, where the Fort Ruger Cannon Club once stood. The institute will house classrooms, laboratories, a restaurant and an indoor amphitheater when it is completed in 2011 or 2012.

"When I first heard about the amphitheater, (I thought) 'This is a rock concert,'" said Richard Takamiya, who attended the meeting with his wife, Rowena.

The Takamiyas, whose home on Wauke Street will be a minute away from the institute's main building, were anxious to learn how the school planned to handle noise and parking.

The main building will be open to the public for dining, lectures, cooking competitions and demonstrations. The 175-seat restaurant will include a cocktail lounge and will serve breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m., lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and dinner from 5 to 10 p.m.

Takamiya said he was relieved to learn the amphitheater would be enclosed, but there remains the question of drivers and cars spilling into neighboring streets to find parking.

Enrollment for the new school in 2017 is expected to be 200 students per fall and spring semester and 80 during the summer, but school officials assured residents Wednesday that a maximum of 60 students are expected to be at the new campus at any given time.

Currently, 119 parking spaces are planned for the new facility. The school expects to make valet parking available and encourage students to use the existing KCC parking spaces.

"I live right next to it, and I visualize a street filled with cars," Takamiya said. "For them to tell me that there is ample parking ... I know that's not true."

Rowena Takamiya shared some of her husband's concerns, but said she is looking forward to having a new restaurant in the neighborhood.

"It's another place we might go to have dinner," she said.

SOME NEIGHBORS 'SATISFIED'

Other residents seemed relieved that the new culinary school would replace a space that has been vacant since 1997 and has been used by some for skateboarding and rollerblading. The area has occasionally had a problem with homeless sleeping there.

Diamond Head Neighborhood Board chair Bert Narita said community members at a Thursday board meeting, where the same presentation was made, were "quite satisfied."

"I think the community realizes that everybody supports the concept of the Culinary Institute of the Pacific," he said. "The fact that KCC is going to go through the comment period assured everyone that there would be community input."

In its final years, the private military club was rented out to "any kind of group that was interested," Narita said. The boisterous parties and wedding receptions would frequently last into the night and the "extremely loud sounds" would carry into the surrounding neighborhoods, he said.

Narita said the neighborhood board may work with the city to improve public transportation to the area to alleviate traffic concerns.

A draft environmental assessment completed by the University of Hawai'i for the culinary institute last month noted that the project may create minor changes in area traffic. Officials are receiving feedback on that report and hope to begin construction next year.

The building is being designed to be energy- and water-efficient.

The new campus will let KCC expand its two-year culinary arts program to four years. The fourth year will focus on restaurant management, which is essential for culinary students to advance in today's competitive field, said Conrad Nonaka, director of the institute.

Nonaka said he hopes the program will also attract professional and aspiring chefs from around the Pacific Rim.

"It's high time. Hawai'i needs to step up to the plate," he said.

"We want more Alan Wongs, more Roys (Yamaguchi), so we can really brag."