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A decision over two years ago by the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting has enabled a North Shore developer to avoid doing a new environmental impact statement for the current version of a construction project underway near the Turtle Bay Resort.

The Utah-based company Arete Collective intends to build up to 350 units on two coastal land parcels the company purchased in April.

The plans for the first four buildings of five units each on a parcel called RR-3 were submitted for approval in December 2022 and are still under review, DPP deputy director Bryan Gallagher said in an email. 

But six months before those plans were submitted for approval, DPP determined that an EIS approved in 2013 satisfied the necessary requirements and “therefore no further environmental impact statement will be required.”

DPP has the authority to require a supplemental EIS, department spokesman Curtis Lum said in an email.

it can do so even where assessments were “initially conducted, and, during the assessment process, significant impacts were uncovered or came to light.”

DPP’s then-director Dean Uchida communicated the decision not to require a new EIS on July 9, 2022, in a , Blackstone Real Estate.

Blackstone had originally hired Arete Collective as design consultants, but Arete is now moving forward as the developer and its contractors been clearing and grading the site since June.

The DPP decision has had a substantial influence on the construction timeline and on public awareness it had started.

North Shore resident and former Honolulu mayoral candidate Choon James wrote in an email that the prior determination by DPP “partly answers my gnawing questions as to why Arete Collective is on such a fast-track build.”

Environmental impact statements typically take more than a year, according to the DPP’s website, and include two periods of public comment that each last at least a month. They also require proponents to engage in mandatory consultation with stakeholders and community experts.

Arete’s inheritance of the 2013 EIS has enabled it to leapfrog the formal process and make rapid progress with the site preparation work, even while .

And DPP’s decision has indirectly curtailed formal public comment on the latest plans, which many residents say they had not seen until an Aug. 29 open house held by Arete at Kahuku High School.

“The way this development was introduced to the community was deeply disrespectful,” said Kahuku resident Jessica dos Santos. “There was no meaningful outreach or transparency with the community at large — no proper notification about imminent development, approvals or notices in 2022.”

James said “there was no thought of questioning outdated data. There was no thought of incorporating climate change values or ‘ocean retreat’ land use planning and so on, and affected parties were denied public participation and disclosure.”

Arete’s CEO and president Rebecca Buchan said via email the project has taken into account feedback from the community. In addition to the August open house, she said she has held dozens of meetings with local environmental leaders and personally met with “hundreds of community members.”

Buchan said they would continue “proactive community outreach” including presentations to the North Shore and Ko‘olauloa neighborhood boards, which will be recorded in meeting minutes.

Arete and DPP both refused requests for interview and responded to questions via email.

DPP Determined Previous EIS Applies

Arete’s project is based on a patchwork of a dozen state and county agreements and permits complicated by changes in resort ownership over the past 20 years.

The construction plans under review were by the former owners of the Turtle Bay Resort, Blackstone Real Estate, on Dec. 16, 2022.

The development parcels are part of a 663-conservation area created under a 2015 conservation agreement between the state and Turtle Bay Resort.

(Correction: An earlier version of this story said that the conservation area had been established under a 1986 agreement between City and County of Honolulu and then-resort owners, Kuilima Development.)

That 2015 agreement drastically reduced the number of units that could be built from the 3,500 in 1986 to 725. Arete said it intends to build half that number on the two blocks totaling 65 acres that it bought from Blackstone in April.

That smaller development footprint was the basis for DPP’s determination that the original environmental impact statement from 1985 and a supplemental statement from October 2013 were still sufficient, according to the from Uchida to lawyers for Blackstone.

“The potential environmental impacts considered by the approved Final SEIS were much greater than the environmental impacts of the current proposal,” Uchida wrote.

Gallagher confirmed that the 2013 SEIS “included the RR-3 developments currently moving forward, including other additional proposed developments within the Turtle Bay resort area.”

Permits remain with the land and new owners like Arete “are allowed to take over and move forward with approved permits and/or pending permit applications,” Gallagher said. That includes the environmental assessment.

The 2013 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement was the result of a ruling by the Hawaii Supreme Court that compelled the resort owners to update the 1985. A lawsuit filed by nonprofits including the Sierra Club and Keep The North Shore Country challenging the 2013 SEIS was later settled.

the 2013 SEIS took nearly 16 months and that 60 community members signed a petition in support of the development while 609 signed another in opposition. Another petition opposing the project on the Change.org website received 4,000 signatures.

Resident Kelly Collins believes the DPP should require an updated EIS to account for new data on sea-level rise and coastal erosion. Collins said the project has changed in the past 10 years and endangered wildlife have become more dependent on the underdeveloped areas of the coastline.

She said the development would also exacerbate vehicle traffic on the North Shore.

Arete said it has commissioned a new traffic study in response to community concerns about the impact of additional traffic volume and will support shoreline restoration efforts.

Final Reviews Still Pending

Despite not having final approvals, Arete’s contractors have been able to prepare building sites under a grading permit issued by DPP on May 21.

Aerial photos taken by Civil Beat late last month show extensive clearing of vegetation and the outlines of the initial foundations for the four buildings awaiting approval on the 33-acre parcel RR-3.

In its monthly update, “select clearing of invasive plants and fine grading continues on the RR3 parcel based on approved grading permits in preparation for phase 1 of construction.”

That pre-construction work can be undertaken by land owners even without a building permit, Gallagher said.

But still pending after 20 months are the reviews of a total of six submitted plans by DPP’s Land Use Division, the Turtle Bay Design Advisory Committee and the State Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Those additional reviews are required because both the 1986 agreement and state legislation for state-designated “included the same condition that structures need to generally be set back 300 ft from the certified shoreline,” Gallagher said.

However, two of the planned buildings would be 150 feet from the shoreline, the plans show. Buchan confirmed this in a July interview.

The plans will by DPP’s Land Use Division and the Turtle Bay Resort Design Advisory Committee. 

The LUD will check the plans — which it received two weeks ago — for compliance with the Special Management Areas, the 1986 agreement and the and provide notes to the plan examiner. “These comments are then sent to the applicant. Issues must be addressed before the building permit is approved,” Gallagher said. 

He did not specify whether the plans could be approved without modification.

“DPP is not able to comment at this time as to when the plan review will be completed, but we can provide more information at a later date after we get a complete picture of the review comments and still to be determined issues, if there are any,” he said.

The State Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources for the treatment of burials if found, and archaeological monitoring, Gallagher said.  

Arete’s website said it is has contracted for regular archaeological and biological monitoring services to comply with the cultural and environmental obligations of the 1986 agreement for the conservation area, which the company will co-manage with the new owners of the Turtle Bay Resort, Host Hotels.