Decades after University of Hawai'i officials recognized the need for West Hawai'i classes, the university is still working on a dedicated campus.

A supplemental environmental impact statement for the long-range development plan for a West Hawai'i center, now available online, shows the potential impacts the proposed UH Center-West Hawai'i might have on state land makai of Mamalahoa Highway and north of Kaiminani Drive.

The proposal includes subdividing 73 acres from a 500-acre parcel to develop as a West Hawai'i campus, though the only construction currently being planned is a 20,000-square-foot building that, as long as costs do not exceed $5 million, will be completed by the developers of the Palamanui subdivision. The university system must pay the costs beyond that amount, and the document was unclear about whether that money was available.

"Funding sources to construct additional facilities as the UHCWH expands have yet to be definitively identified," the document said.

Brian Minaai, University of Hawai'i associate vice president for capital improvements, was unavailable for comment, and other office employees declined to comment. Rockne Freitas, Hawai'i Community College chancellor, did not return a message left Friday.

The supplemental EIS does not lay out a timeline for construction of the lone building, nor for any campus developments beyond the initial structure.

"We're hoping to have working drawings later in the summer," said Roger Harris, development project manager for Palamanui. "We're planning for (construction) later in the year, if we get the drawings done and permits set."

Palamanui has a state permit to build on the land, Harris said.

Infrastructure construction will be largely completed by Palamanui, the document said.

"The general intent of the university is to 'piggy-back' on Palamanui's utility systems to reduce the university's infrastructure costs as much as possible," the document said. "The details of the various utility tie-ins with Palamanui are still being evaluated by the project engineer."

The university center first offered classes in West Hawai'i in 1971, using hotels and public classrooms. Hawai'i Community College began offering courses in 1981. The services were consolidated in 1987 in the Kealakekua Business Plaza, and in 1990, the Board of Regents commissioned the first West Hawaii Campus Site Assessment. Based on that study, the board selected a 500-acre site in Kalaoa, on land owned by the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

"This site was the preferred choice for the majority of West Hawai'i residents because of its central location between the urban center of Kailua-Kona and the resort nodes of South Kohala and North Kona and its proximity to the airport and high-tech facilities (Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii and the Hawaiian Ocean Science and Technology Park)," the document said.

The board approved in 2002 an agreement with Hiluhilu Development, which owns 725 acres adjacent to the 500-acre parcel's northern boundary. Hawai'i County, in granting zoning requests, required the developer to construct the building when the university received necessary approvals.

The supplemental environmental impact statement for revisions to the UH Center-West Hawaii Long Range Development Plan will be published in Sunday's Office of Environmental Quality Control newsletter, and are available on the OEQC's Web site, oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/default.aspx.