By Ian Bauer - August 8, 2025
A Honolulu City Council measure connected to the proposed Haleiwa housing and commercial development project that’s sparked opposition over the potential loss of agricultural land, increased traffic congestion and the high cost of living was paused Wednesday.
The Council voted unanimously to recommit a committee draft of Bill 37, related to a rezoning effort by the developer of Haleiwa Backyards LLC, to the panel’s Zoning and Planning Committee for further consideration.
On its third and final reading, Bill 37’s deferral followed over an hour of oral testimony from area residents against the measure and its associated proposed development project.
The item also drew more than 850 written testimonials submitted in opposition to the measure, versus five in support of the bill.
“Given what we’ve heard … I respectfully ask for a deferral of this measure,” Council member Esther Kia‘aina said, prior to the vote.
As proposed, the project is on a more than 7.5-acre vacant parcel between Kamehameha Highway and Joseph P. Leong Highway, near Achiu Lane and Cane Haul and Emerson roads.
The development calls for up to 156 low-rise, two- bedroom rental units with an accompanying 30,000 square feet of office and retail space, parking and a wastewater management system.
Basin Project Inc. — operated by D.G. “Andy” Anderson — is the property owner.
After the meeting, Anderson told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser that despite the measure’s deferral “thus far, there is no impact” to his project.
He added Kia‘aina, who chairs the zoning committee, “asked us if we would agree to a deferral and we concurred.”
The developer says the rental units could include eight affordable two-bedroom units targeted for those who earn 80% of the area median income — for one person in 2025 that equates to earning $85,150 annually, state data indicates. As proposed, about 140 units would be leased as market-rate rentals.
The eight, two-bedroom units proposed for lease at 80% AMI would see a monthly rent of $2,500. The remaining units would have monthly rents of $2,800. Also, at least 31 units in the project would be deemed affordable rentals to 120% AMI, the developer says.
In 2025 a single person at 120% AMI earns $108,600 annually, state data indicates.
With a mix of uses, the project would feature multifamily housing with a density of 20 units per acre and three stories not exceeding 40 feet in height, according to the developer’s consultant.
The project is deemed “gap housing” or “workforce housing” — usually considered affordable to middle- income earners — and “not solely as an affordable housing” project, the developer’s consultant states.
But the Council’s vote on a committee draft of Bill 37 does not advance or approve the project itself.
Instead, it would allow for zoning changes for the proposed development site.
The bulk of the project’s property — about 7.29 acres — is currently zoned agricultural.
Bill 37, if fully adopted, would amend the state Land Use District Boundary Map — for an area known as the Haleiwa Quadrangle — by reclassifying the 7.29 acres from its current state land use agricultural district to the state land use urban district, to allow for its development.
The measure says the project will “help address the city’s housing crisis by allowing for the development of decent, reasonably-priced housing with access to schools, services, amenities, and job opportunities.”
At the meeting, North Shore residents — many appearing at the meeting wearing green and white T-shirts and caps imprinted with the words, “Keep the Country Country!” — opposed Bill 37.
Haleiwa resident Chris Hagen said his town is already plagued with heavy traffic, so it does not need a new housing development to add to the problem.
“That land was bought as ag land. It was bought to be flipped,” he said. “(Anderson) bought it, he sat on it. So when people come up and say ‘it’s not being farmed,’ it’s not being farmed because it’s being used” for development.
“Hence, (Anderson) sits on it, he flips it, he makes a lot of money,” Hagen added. “We as a community suffer.”
Linda Molina of Haleiwa also expressed concern over the Council’s prior votes to advance Bill 37.
“Most of you have refused to hear the voices of the people who put their trust in you,” she said, adding agricultural land in the Haleiwa area is prime growing land. “We cannot depend on the ships bringing food here; this is our source of food.”
North Shore resident Racquel Achiu spoke to the tsunami that threatened Hawaii on July 29, following a magnitude-8.8 earthquake off Russia.
“And yes, the tsunami revealed a very scary reality — we’re over capacity. That day, I couldn’t get to my mom,” she said, emotionally of traffic that snarled area roads for hours. “If we didn’t have a lead time, we wouldn’t be here today. We had three or four hours and I still couldn’t get to her. And she’s very literally five minutes away.”
State Sen. Brenton Awa — whose Senate District 23 encompasses the North Shore — also spoke in opposition to Bill 37.
“What we have here is another example of smart investors working towards land flipping,” Awa said.
“They’ve known for decades that if they buy ag land, which typically costs less than residential, and they come here they follow the blueprint and get the City Council members’ votes, the land that they own, if it’s rezoned, skyrockets in value.”
He added “this rezone from precious agricultural land to urban development” strains the North Shore community.
“We need homes, we know that,” Awa said. “But we want those homes put in places that are designated to be built.”
The Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters was in support of Bill 37.
“Just to clear up a common misunderstanding, this bill does not approve the final project, the final site plan or the affordability levels,” Carpenters Union member Juan Padasdao Jr. said. “What it does is allows us to move forward into the real planning phase.”
He added, “the zoning change unlocks land that’s been sitting fallow, and it allows the developer and the community to work through detailed conditions like unit types, affordability, traffic analysis and design.”
“If we say ‘no’ now, we lose the opportunity to shape any portion of the housing project,” he said.
Mitchell Tynanes, a Carpenters Union member, said he supported the measure “because workforce housing is needed” on Oahu. “And Haleiwa Backyards is a reasonable and responsible place to build it,” he added.
And although she voted to recommit Bill 37, Kia‘aina asserted developer Anderson is still a “private landowner who has the right to pursue” this housing and retail project.
The Council’s next zoning committee meeting is scheduled for Aug. 21.