HAWAI'I KAI — The developers of a planned 60,000 burial-space cemetery say the effort is moving forward, despite the rundown appearance of dust screens erected nearly three years ago.

The black paper dust screens that flap in the breeze and the tall weeds leading to an access area for Paradise Memorial Park are something the developer is quite aware of, said Trappeur Rahn, PRM Realty Group senior vice president and asset manager for the cemetery.

During the past three meetings of the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board, members have brought up the condition of the dust screens, which are required by the city for the cemetery's construction. The 69-acre site is behind Mariner's Cove and next to the Kamilo Nui Valley farms.

"At the request of the citizens, we have removed part of the screens so the trades can blow through," Rahn said. "We have in fact removed sections of it."

Rahn said the Chicago-based PRM Realty Group, which owns the site, has hired Belt Collins to work on its grading permit application and scheduled a meeting with Kamehameha Schools next month to discuss concerns about storm water runoff. The company hopes to obtain necessary permits within the next 12 months, Rahn said.

The cemetery site is an allowed use on the land, which is zoned for preservation purposes. In 2001, the City Council approved the cemetery proposal, despite concerns expressed by area residents about traffic and storm water runoff. Those issues were addressed when the council granted approval for the cemetery.

Henry Eng, city Department of Planning and Permitting director, said the developer now holds permits for stockpiling dirt, and has indicated that it will soon apply for a grading permit.

For the past year, site work appeared to be stalled, Rahn said, because the company was refinancing it and drafting permitting plans for the city.

Paradise Memorial Park, the first new cemetery on O'ahu in 50 years, will built over the next 20 to 30 years. The first phase includes about 18,000 burial spaces, niches, a chapel and a mortuary, Rahn said.

A cemetery was loosely planned for this area in the late 1960s, when Henry Kaiser was planning the community. Land use planners, citing census figures, have said that the area is aging, with more than 11 percent of residents older than 65 — a growth rate that outpaces the island as a whole, according to U.S. Census figures. The closest cemetery is on the slope of Diamond Head.

While PRM is known for luxury housing projects, including one in Wailea, Maui, and another being proposed on Kaua'i, Rahn said Paradise Memorial Park marks the company's first effort to develop a cemetery.

"We are an entrepreneurial firm in nature, and we saw a business opportunity," Rahn said. "Our group has put together an advisory team."

That team includes former City Councilman John Henry Felix, who was with the Borthwick Mortuary group until 1993 when he sold it to Service Corp.

Elizabeth Reilly, a Mariner's Cove resident and member of the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board, said that she has received some comments about the site from residents regarding weeds and tilting dust screen frames.

"The old tarps were removed," Reilly said. "We have remnants of the frame and some of it is loose wood. It's dangerous and an unfair eyesore to the community."

The city has responded by asking the developer to make necessary repairs to the structures, or remove them. Since the application is imminent, they will not be removed. The tall weeds will be mowed down soon, Rahn said, and repairs will be made to the dust screens after that.

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.