HAWAI'I KAI — Costco, which plans to start expansion of its operation in Hawai'i Kai this month, still would like to build a gas station in the community. The question is where.

The store had talked to the community about a multibay station across from the Hawai'i Kai store, but held off after residents complained about potential traffic, noise and pollution.

Costco had plans for a gas station on a vacant piece of land across Keahole Street from the store on preservation zoned land. For a station to be built there, Costco would have to seek permission from the city to rezone the land.

Bruce Greenwood, Costco's senior vice president in charge of operations, said in an interview last week that the chain is still considering Keahole Street and other sites in the community for a gas station.

"We're still analyzing the cost of the site across from the store," Greenwood said. "It would require a retaining wall and other improvements."

"We feel we can offer great value to our customers," Greenwood said. "We're saving our customers on average 15 to 20 cents a gallon at our other two stations (Iwilei and Waipi'o)."

Lester Muraoka, chairman of the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board, said he believes the issues residents raised last year at community meetings still apply.

Meanwhile, the store plans to expand into the site of a former medical-and-office center, Greenwood said.

The store, which was built more than a decade ago, will expand from 105,000 square feet to 150,000 square feet.

The Hawai'i Kai store was the second in the state and was the model for store size at that time, Greenwood said. Today, most of the Issaquash, Wash.-company stores are about 150,000 square feet, with larger food courts, gas stations and a ready-made food section. Three of Costco's five Hawai'i stores have gas stations: Iwilei, Waipi'o on O'ahu, and Kona on the Big Island.

Construction for store expansion should begin later this month, Greenwood said, depending on when the city issues the building permit.

The gas station isn't part of the store's current expansion plans, Greenwood said, but "it's still an idea we're looking at."

Marian Grey, a member of the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board, said to her it didn't matter if Costco built a gas station in the community since the area is already congested.

"The whole ambiance is changed with the recent spate of home building," Grey said. "It's not the community it was 10 years ago. I don't think the gas station will create any more traffic than we already have."