An advisory group is recommending that all new resort development at Turtle Bay be stricken from a city plan that guides population and future land use in the island's communities.

The citizen planning advisory committee for the Ko'olau Loa Sustainable Community Plan decided by consensus to make the recommendation at its Wednesday night meeting but at least one member of the group dissented and another thought no real decision was made.

The advisory committee is in the midst of a series of meetings to decide whether the Ko'olau Loa Sustainable Community Plan, which governs development from Ka'a'awa to just beyond Turtle Bay, should be amended in any way.

Any recommendations must still go through city agencies, the Planning Commission and the City Council.

Nevertheless, many see this as a first action step to limiting or stopping development at Turtle Bay by Kuilima Resort Co., which has an expansion plan agreement with the city and state that allows it to build up to five new hotels with 3,500 rooms and condominium units and four public parks on the Turtle Bay footprint.

"There may be some legal entanglements in the future on this issue; nevertheless this is what the community is recommending," said Creighton Mattoon, committee member and Punalu'u resident. Mattoon said only one committee member dissented of about 20 members who attended the meeting.

The meetings are an opportunity for the communities to tell the city what they want to see developed for the next 20 years. The process has been or will be repeated in all eight districts on O'ahu.

The timing for the Ko'olauloa community couldn't be more important as proposed developments mostly in Kahuku threaten to change the small plantation town into a major resort and suburban community where agriculture once ruled. At stake are jobs and housing. Up for grabs are open space and pristine shoreline.

Hundreds of Ko'olauloa neighbors on the North Shore and Ko'olaupoko are throwing their support behind preserving open space, arguing that any more resort development will clog the highways and overwhelm communities.

The changes may be unnecessary if Gov. Linda Lingle's plan to purchase the 800-acre Turtle Bay Resort property is supported by the Legislature. Lingle will hold a community meeting on the proposal March 4.

If the purchase falls through, this plan change would set in motion a series of decisions that opponents believe could stop development there.

Kuilima Resort Co. last night issued a statement: "At this stage in the process, it would be premature for us to comment on the proposed revisions to the Ko'olauloa Sustainable Communities Plan, but we are moving forward with processing all of our permits."

One member of the Ko'olau Loa citizen planning advisory panel said she believes no vote was taken on Turtle Bay.

"I did not feel that we made any decision as far as no development at Turtle Bay," said Leslie Llanos, committee member and Kahuku resident. "I felt the consensus was to take a breather or just defer it and get some more information."

Llanos said she is among many people who support a limited expansion at Turtle Bay to provide jobs, but people are afraid to speak out.

Even if a state park was developed as some suggested, she said, it would attract residents to Kahuku and there would still be a traffic issue.

Opponents had attempted to stop the Turtle Bay expansion through the courts, but a judge told them that they need to address the issue through the sustainable community plan review process, said DeeDee Letts, a committee member and Ka'a'awa resident.