More than 4,000 housing units are being proposed as part of the University of Hawai'i's planned West O'ahu campus, according to new details of the project that would become one of the largest housing developments on the 'Ewa Plain.

The tentative plan, which includes a mix of student and faculty housing, affordable housing and market-priced homes, is subject to approval by the UH Board of Regents and county zoning changes.

If approved as envisioned, the project would become the third-biggest future residential community slated for construction in the 'Ewa area over the next two decades or so, joining nearly 40,000 homes planned at numerous projects.

The large number of proposed UH-West O'ahu homes surprised Maeda Timson, chairwoman of the Makakilo/Kapolei Neighborhood Board. But she remained steadfast in her longtime support of the campus plan.

"I just think UH-West O'ahu is the most important piece of a healthy, successful community that you sometimes have to trade off," she said. "This is a well-worth-it trade-off to me."

Development of UH-West O'ahu is being pursued under a private-public partnership involving Texas-based Hunt Building Co., which would build university facilities for the state in return for being permitted to develop housing and commercial projects on state land around the campus.

The state also is spending money on the project, though $33.5 million in bond money proposed by Gov. Linda Lingle was not included by lawmakers in the state budget earlier this year. UH officials say funding next year will be critical to move the project forward.

A YEAR OF PLANNING

A year ago, UH officials selected Hunt as the best-qualified developer to help realize the plan. Since then, the company and the university have been working on detailed planning and design for the 500-acre site between Kapolei Golf Course and the planned North-South Road makai of Farrington Highway.

Hunt plans to buy and develop 287 acres of state land and to use development proceeds to build the university campus on 214 acres.

Preliminary housing details of the project were disclosed in a draft environmental impact statement UH filed last week with the state Office of Environmental Quality Control.

Of 4,041 units planned by Hunt, 761 would be for student and faculty housing. Another 355 are described as "workforce/affordable housing." The balance — 2,925 homes — would be a mix of market-priced townhouses and single-family homes.

2,280 STUDENT BEDS

UH estimated that student housing units would provide about 2,280 beds for an expected campus population of 7,600 students.

A commercial village that includes 842,900 square feet of building space and some homes would serve as the project's town center and a transition between the university and residential areas.

The initial phase of the estimated $150 million campus with four classroom buildings accommodating 1,520 students is scheduled for completion in 2009. The initial phase also would include 616 market-priced homes, according to the environmental filing.

No timetable has been set for a subsequent phase of the campus that would contain the affordable homes, the student and faculty housing plus the balance of market-priced homes.

Gene Awakuni, UH-West O'ahu chancellor, could not be reached for comment yesterday. But he said last week that the deal with Hunt has yet to be finalized.

An official with Hunt also could not be reached yesterday.

Kitty Lagareta, chairwoman of the Board of Regents, said the board should receive an informational update on the project at a meeting later this month. She said the plan would be considered for approval sometime after that.

A 25-YEAR-OLD VISION

The vision to create a four-year West O'ahu campus dates back some 25 years and is more sorely needed now because of booming growth in the area, according to project advocates.

Now that details are emerging about how UH-West O'ahu will contribute to the growth, stakeholders will have to assess the trade-off being proposed to the state.

Alvin Tanaka, Board of Regents vice chairman, said he hasn't seen the numbers of homes proposed, but said he hopes development details work out to give the state a mostly privately financed university campus.

"It's exciting if it goes up out there," he said.

UH-West O'ahu presently holds classes at Leeward Community College.

Timson, of the Neighborhood Board, said community members have understood homes would be part of the UH-West O'ahu development plan, though how many was not publicly known until now.

"When (the developer) came to us and presented their plan, everyone was, 'Ho man, more housing,' " Timson said. "But it was really clear in our minds we wouldn't get UH-West O'ahu without it because they needed a creative way to finance the project. We felt the education thing was so important — and so much housing is coming up everywhere. It was a matter of balancing what was most important to us."

NOT BIGGEST PROJECT

While the housing component of UH-West O'ahu is one of the larger planned residential communities for the area, several existing projects are larger.

The largest planned is Ho'opili, a project by the Schuler Division of D.R. Horton Inc. that envisions 10,000 to 15,000 homes just east of the UH-West O'ahu site.

A Campbell Estate project called Makaiwa Hills is expected to add 4,100 homes just west of Makakilo. Another Campbell Estate project, Kapolei West, calls for 2,370 homes.

Of several largely developed residential communities in the area, Ewa by Gentry is the biggest, with about 7,200 planned units, roughly 6,000 of which have been built. Ocean Pointe will have 4,850 homes, of which about 1,800 are completed.

Villages of Kapolei has more than half of its planned 4,850 homes finished. Roughly 1,000 homes have been developed at Ko Olina Resort & Marina, which is planned for 4,450 homes.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.