The long-awaited University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu campus must clear just one more hurdle before development can begin in East Kapolei.

The City Council Zoning Committee meets Tuesday to begin reviewing the 202-acre plan and consider a zoning change that is required before work can begin.

Also part of the rezoning request is the proposed 298-acre residential and commercial subdivision that was sold to a private developer to finance the campus' first phase.

For more than three decades, UH-West O'ahu has led a meager existence, operating out of wooden portable buildings at the Leeward Community College campus in Pearl City.

But the campus now has a site, funding and, yes, even a planned rail transit stop nearby. That has advocates excited because they view the new campus as an essential educational resource, economic driver and partial traffic solution for the fastest growing region in the state.

Maeda Timson, chairwoman of the Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board, recalled lobbying for a West O'ahu campus when her daughter was a child. Next week, she said, she might be taking her daughter's daughter to City Hall.

"We have the largest young people population on the whole island, probably in the whole state," Timson said. "It just makes common sense."

"Our success rate of graduation from schools along this whole Leeward Coast is pretty low," she said. "We wanted to change the mindset about education and we thought that if there was a university in our area, the kids would pass it every day, it would be easy to get to. ... They can aspire to something."

PHASE 1 IN 2010

The hope is to break ground this fall and have the first phase completed in 16 months, around the middle of 2010, said UH-West O'ahu Chancellor Gene Awakuni, who operates out of a wooden portable that was a hand-me-down from Kapi'olani Community College when KCC moved to Diamond Head years ago.

"The whole idea is to get the campus up and going and have the freshman class of 2007 graduate at the new campus," Awakuni said.

The roughly 50 students who make up that freshmen class are significant for Awakuni because they are the first to enter UH-West O'ahu under a four-year program. Before that, UH-West O'ahu offered only a two-year upper division baccalaureate program with most of its students made up of transfers who received two-year associate degrees from community colleges before transferring.

Philosophically, it marks a significant change for UH-West O'ahu. The emphasis is switching from liberal arts to applied academics, Awakuni said. That means more programs requiring field training such as elementary education, culinary arts management, allied healthcare and social work, he said.

The direction contrasts with the flagship UH-Manoa campus, which is categorized more as a research institution, he said.

"We know the state is going to need these," Awakuni said, and particularly in the growing population area between Mililani and Kapolei. "We expect the bulk of our students will come from Central and Leeward O'ahu."

'COLLEGE TOWN'

About 250,000 square feet of space will be available in the first phase. A library will be one of the first six buildings. A student center will include a bookstore, eateries, stores and meeting rooms. There also will be an administrative services building and two adjoining classroom-and-office buildings. The sixth structure will be a power plant.

Buildings will be no taller than 90 feet except for a 100-foot "campus identity symbol tower," according to a description of the plan. In the first phase, all but the tower will be no higher than 45 feet, or two stories.

Awakuni said the first phase is expected to accommodate more than 2,000 students.

The second phase is planned as a joint venture with another entity, although the university will still own the land, he said.

It would include a "college town" section with a main street featuring buildings with eateries and shops that cater to college students on the lower levels and apartment-type units above.

People could live, work and go to school there, Awakuni said.

"From our perspective, what we're looking to do is a little college town," he said.

Manoa, long known as a commuter campus, has had difficulty trying to create a more livable campus.

That won't be the case at West O'ahu, he said. "When you have a blank pallet, you can paint it and do it right," Awakuni said.

When finished, the campus is expected to have roughly 743,000 gross square feet of building space with room for expansion, according to UH-West O'ahu officials. That could accommodate 7,600 students and 1,000 faculty and staff.

Today there are only about 1,000 students and 100 faculty.

POLITICAL DECISIONS

Debate over the West O'ahu campus has raged for years. The Lingle administration backed development of the new campus but lawmakers refused any funding.

That changed just over a year ago when Texas-based Hunt Development agreed to buy 298 acres around the university for $100 million. Soon after, in the 2007 legislative session, lawmakers agreed to allocate $35 million.

However, the UH-Manoa Faculty Senate, in October 2006, took issue with the new campus in a unanimous resolution. The professors said money was needed for repair and maintenance of the neglected flagship campus.

Information and computer science professor David Chin, Manoa Faculty Senate chairman, said he and his colleagues have asked for but not received any data justifying the need for a sprawling new West O'ahu campus.

Recent studies show the number of Hawai'i high school graduates attending the UH system is declining, he said.

"Given the projected hundreds of millions of dollars in backlogged maintenance (at Manoa and other existing facilities), can we really afford this?" Chin asked.

Meda Chesney-Lind, a women's studies professor and Manoa Faculty Senate member, said politics is driving the decision to fund the West O'ahu campus. "There was a decision made that has little to do with education," she said.

Mark Hanson, chairman of the UH-West O'ahu Faculty Senate, said no one questions the need for repairs and upgrades at Manoa and other campuses.

But to argue against a West O'ahu campus is also indefensible, he said. "If you look at the numbers, 60 percent of the population of the state lives west of Red Hill," Hanson said.

He said he does not believe all Manoa faculty oppose a West O'ahu campus. "Many are very supportive and say, 'It's about time, good for you guys,'" he said.

Awakuni isn't worried about a shortage of students.

A recent study showed that West O'ahu has the lowest percentage of high school students moving into higher education, he said. That would change with a West O'ahu campus.

Awakuni said many of those who oppose the West O'ahu expansion do not know that $100 million of the $135 million is coming from private sources.

The $35 million provided by the state would probably not have gone to the West O'ahu project if not for that $100 million in "leverage" money, he said, and there's no guarantee the $35 million would otherwise have gone to other UH campuses.

Funding for existing UH facilities was a main priority at the Legislature this year. Lawmakers approved $157.9 million next fiscal year for UH repairs, maintenance and construction. That's less than half of what UH administrators had requested but substantially more than Gov. Linda Lingle had proposed.

PARTNERSHIP PRAISED

The rezoning request before the Zoning Committee on Tuesday will include the Hunt project, which consists of 2,631 residential units and 383,328 square feet of commercial space. It includes an elementary school and park space.

While the Hunt project is expected to complement UH-West O'ahu, it will be a completely separate entity, Awakuni said.

Hunt is also redeveloping Ford Island and has helped turn former military residential properties at Iroquois Point and Kalaeloa into rentals.

Kapolei Board Chairwoman Timson applauded Awakuni for helping make the project a reality through the Hunt deal. "It was his leadership and tenacity and trying to work with everybody," she said, noting that he has worked closely with those in charge of other projects, including the major Department of Hawaiian Home Lands development to the south and the proposed Ho'opili project to the east, which is expected to bring up to 12,500 homes and commercial sites.

Timson said such partnerships are necessary in today's world of shrinking state budgets.

"Unless folks do partnerships, getting your projects done is going to be a dream," she said. "The reality is the state's not going to fund it."