KAHUKU — In an effort to underscore opposition to a plan-ned hotel expansion at Turtle Bay, a Kahuku resident pressed the Kahuku Community Association's president yesterday for a vote on the issue.

Margaret Primacio, a longtime Kahuku resident, made the formal plea on behalf of a group of several residents to association president Donald Hurlbut, who denied the request and said the board's decision will stand.

The association board in March upheld a unilateral agreement from 20 years ago that would allow for as many as five new hotels and 1,000 new condominiums near the Turtle Bay Resort area. Primacio called for a membership vote, contending that discussion and debate should have been called by the board before it took action.

"How can a plan that's 20 years old really stand the test?" she asked. "Who of us has a 20-year-old plan that we don't need to reassess?"

Hurlbut told Primacio when she confronted him about a membership meeting at his office that "the board has made up its mind and they're going to stand by it."

He did say he would take her request to the board next month, but noted that according to association bylaws, members get to vote once a year and that's in November to elect board members.

Hurlbut said the hotel expansion will be good for the community. He doesn't believe that all five hotels will ever be built, only two.

"If they shut that hotel off, they don't have any construction, this town will die in two years," he said. "This is for my grandchildren going to elementary school. If there's work here, they don't have to go to town."

Two members of the Kahuku Community Association board work for Kuilima Resort Co., the developers tied to the expansion. Hurlbut said both are excused from voting when the issue is before the board. Hurlbut wasn't able to produce the minutes to the meeting in which the decision was made and said he couldn't remember how many board members were present.

Primacio and others are asking that a supplemental environmental impact statement be conducted to reassess the impacts that may not have not been evident 20 years ago when the first EIS was done. She said she doesn't understand why the association board won't re-examine the issue.

"No one wants to see all of this cemented or manicured as a resort would," she said. "And it's not just this organization trying to put up something here. Outside investors who have no interest in our community, they're just flipping sales."

At least five developers attended the last board meeting to present information to the members, Hurlbut said.

The Keep the North Shore Country group has filed a lawsuit asking the court to require the supplemental EIS but that action is in the discovery stage, with each side collecting information, said Gil Riviere, president.

Riviere said every association on the Windward Coast except Kahuku supports the request. And the issue is not about whether some development is desirable, he said.

"The question is, should Turtle Bay hotel be allowed to expand to five more hotels and 1,000 more condominiums without any further review," Riviere said.

Doug Carlson, spokesman for Kuilima Resort Co., said the company has no updates on its plan, but hopes to discuss it publicly in the near future.

The City Council could address the issue, but council chairman Donovan Dela Cruz deferred comment to city Corporation Council, which has advised the City Council to proceed with caution.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.