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Taller buildings aren’t just coming to Kakaako, and that’s mostly thanks to rail.

New city plans call for increasing building height limits around future rail stations as a means to spur development.

In fact, some areas could see buildings as tall as 450 feet, or about 100 feet taller than the maximum current city zoning laws allow.

It’s part of Honolulu’s push for transit-oriented development, a planning principle that seeks to gentrify neighborhoods, increase density and make communities more pedestrian-friendly.

Honolulu is in the process of developing new planning and zoning rules specifically for transit-oriented development, or TOD, as it is commonly referred.

But these rules won’t be completed for more than a year, and developers are getting antsy.

According to from the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting, a number of developers and landowners have already approached the city about possible TOD projects.

The only problem is the city’s current zoning rules are too restrictive, specifically when it comes to height, density and parking regulations.

This is why the city is creating a temporary set of rules to allow certain projects to move forward despite the fact they might otherwise be illegal under the current land use ordinance.

“Almost anybody we’ve talked to has said this would be a lot easier to do if the zoning were different,” said Harrison Rue, Honolulu’s TOD administrator.

“The idea of coming up with an interim (permitting system) is one that we proposed at the staff level to both keep control of the process and to let people know what we’re looking for.”

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Honolulu rail columns on west Oahu.

In general, the new rules, which must be approved by the Honolulu City Council, will double the allowable density in certain zoning districts around nearly all of the rail stations.

Height limits will also be increased in various areas to a maximum of 450 feet, although there are caps in specific neighborhoods that have already developed other .

This means that buildings should not exceed 90 feet, but around Honolulu International Airport and Ala Moana Center, where community TOD plans have yet to be developed, buildings can soar hundreds of feet into the air so long as projects meet certain requirements.

The temporary permitting process will allow developers to work around current zoning limitations so long as their projects are within a quarter mile of a future rail station.

Developers must show that eligible projects will increase transit ridership, bolster the economy, increase affordable housing or contribute to open spaces and parkland to be considered.

But the city’s officials won’t simply “give away flexibility for free.” Only the most “creative” and “catalytic” projects that are likely to stimulate more development will be considered.

“The flexibility granted to the Applicant will be directly related to the types and scale of community benefits proposed in the project,” the report says. “The more of these community benefits an Applicant proposes, the more flexibility they are likely to get.

“We are proposing to allow flexibility to promote project attributes that may be overlooked because they do not contribute to the profitability of a project or they may not financially ‘pencil-out.’”

One option the city may consider for the right types of projects is the removal of minimum parking requirements, saying that a “hallmark” of transit-based communities is that cars aren’t absolutely necessary. The city, however, does plan to require bicycle parking for each project that comes before it.

The city also wants to have control over the landscaping — such as by planting trees next to streets, rather than next to buildings — to make space for outdoor cafes, bicycle racks and other activities.

If developers improve the quality of open spaces and create better access to parks, this could lead to more leniency when they seek permits for their projects.

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Window cleaners work on a Honolulu high rise.

The city’s proposed rules won’t apply to the area around two rail stations in Kakaako since those are within the state’s jurisdiction and they are not subject to Honolulu’s zoning rules.

But the Hawaii Community Development Authority, which is the lead agency overseeing development in Kakaako, has created its own TOD plan in anticipation of the $5.26 billion rail line.

HCDA’s plan is even more ambitious, at least when it comes to building heights.

The tallest buildings under the proposed plans can reach as high as 700 feet. That’s nearly as tall as Diamond Head. It’s also 300 feet taller than what HCDA generally allows today.

It’s unclear whether the city’s rules will cause as much of a stir as HCDA’s proposals, which frequently grab headlines and fill meeting halls.

Several communities have already been made aware of the city’s desire to increase building heights around rail stations through the TOD planning process.

The Honolulu Planning Commission unanimously approved the new TOD permitting process on Dec. 4 with only one person testifying in support.

You can read the city’s TOD permitting proposal here: