The owner of the Makakilo Quarry hopes to expand the dig by about 20 percent and extend its life by 25 years despite objections from some neighbors who oppose the notion of rock-mining in the middle of a growing residential area.

Grace Pacific is seeking permits from the city and state for the expansion and is winning over some of the residents who previously opposed the plan after promising to address concerns about dust, noise and truck traffic.

Kapolei was just a vast expanse of sugar cane fields on the way from 'Ewa and Wai'anae when rock was first mined off the face of Pu'u Makakilo in the early 1970s.

Today, Makakilo Quarry is surrounded by O'ahu's so-called Second City and the roughly 8,000 families that call the Kapolei-Makakilo region home.

The quarry expansion proposal represents a conundrum for the state's fastest-growing region.

Residents question how a quarry can continue to operate amid the thousands of new homes.

Grace Pacific argues the Grade A aggregate rock being mined from the quarry is essential to the roads and other infrastructure so badly needed in the region. Rejecting the expansion plan will mean that improving the area's infrastructure will take longer and cost more, they say.

CONCESSIONS OFFERED

The company appears to be winning over opponents of its expansion plan by agreeing to several key concessions, including a promise to relocate its processing facilities away from homes at a cost of about $40 million.

The Villages of Kapolei Association board of directors last week voted to rescind its opposition to the plan, contingent on Grace Pacific following through with a list of promises.

In addition to moving the processing facility, Grace Pacific has also promised to modify the visual impact of the vertical face of the quarry so that it becomes less unsightly.

There continues to be opposition, however, from some association board members who say a quarry is incompatible with the growing neighborhood and feel its continued existence is a blight on Pu'u Makakilo, the former volcanic hill that is among the area's most recognizable landmarks.

"We would still really prefer that they move the quarry," said Ken Dorner, a member of the Villages of Kapolei association board. But the political reality, he said, is that elected officials have not been persuaded to oppose the project and board members have decided that compromise is the only alternative.

"It's the wrong place for a quarry," Dorner said. "But that being said, and with the reality that we do need aggregate and no one wants to pay more money for it, this is the best compromise that could be reached."

Meanwhile, the smaller Kapolei Knolls Community Association has maintained its opposition. Leaders of that organization could not be reached for comment.

David Tanoue, deputy director of the city Department of Planning and Permitting, said his department expects to have a recommendation on the project ready in the next few weeks and and a hearing before the Planning Commission scheduled for mid-July.

The expansion project needs approval from the Planning Commission and the state Land Use Commission.

expand — or import?

Grace Pacific's Makakilo Quarry is one of three basalt aggregate rock suppliers on O'ahu and produces about one-third of the island's total aggregate.

Makakilo Quarry, however, historically has produced 70 percent of the Grade A quality aggregate used for asphalt paving on the island, said Bob Creps, Grace Pacific senior vice president of administration. The asphalt is used to make roads, harbors and airports.

But at this point, the company has run through nearly all the Grade A aggregate in the area of the quarry being mined.

Since January, Grace Pacific has been bringing in Grade A aggregate from Vancouver, British Columbia, to supplement its dwindling supply, said Nathan "Jay" Obrey, the company's vice president of manufacturing operations.

The company has identified an area up to 200 feet higher than its existing boundaries that it believes contains Grade A basalt "in enough quantity that makes it economically feasible to process it," Creps said.

The alternative is to import Grade A rock from elsewhere. Creps said Grace Pacific has looked on Maui and in Canada for potential sources.

"The conclusion is it's probably three to four times the cost of locally produced aggregate" to obtain the Grade A aggregate from Canada, while the Maui supply is too small to be viable, he said.

Additionally, O'ahu's harbor facilities won't be able to receive aggregate in the volume necessary to replace what Makakilo has been able to generate over the years, Creps said.

A CONSTRUCTION BASIC

Grace Pacific has done a number of test bores in other potential sites from Wai'anae to Wahiawa and has not found enough Grade A material to make it economically viable to establish a new quarry, Creps said.

Asphalt paving aggregate is already at a premium here. Asphalt paving cost $106 a ton in Honolulu in the first quarter, said a report issued by the research firm Rider Levett Bucknall. That was higher than 10 other cities in a side-by-side comparison. Second was Orlando, Fla., at $75.57 a ton.

Other aggregate materials also tend to cost more here than in most other U.S. cities, said Karen Nakamura, executive vice president and chief executive of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii.

"We're talking about the basics of construction, all the roads and foundations and buildings," Nakamura said. "Whatever we can develop here as a raw product, we save the cost of having it shipped here. And we use local labor and the money stays here in Hawai'i."

The quarry began operating in 1973 on between 72 and 94 acres mauka of H-1 Freeway near the approach to the Makakilo-Kapolei interchange. Grace Pacific, which took over operation in 1985, wants to be able to mine at least 21 additional acres.

The special use permit application before the city Planning Commission also calls for more than 300 acres surrounding the quarry to be a physical buffer and to remain in open space

The existing permit does not specify when the quarry is to cease operations. The new application calls for operations to run through 2032.

NUMEROUS COMPLAINTS

The application submitted late last year called for the existing facilities makai of H-1 Freeway to continue where they are, next to approximately 300 homes in Kapolei Knolls and across Farrington Highway from the Kapolei Golf Course and other Kapolei subdivisions. The facilities include a hot-mix asphalt facility and fine crusher, which Grace Pacific officials acknowledge have been a source of dust, noise and odor.

There have been numerous complaints about debris buildup caused by the makai-side operations. Residents have also complained about trucks traveling between the freeway and the Farrington Highway entrance to the lower facilities, adding to the dust and noise.

Grace Pacific said its dust-monitoring stations suggest that much of the dust and odor problems faced by residents are the result of other activity going on nearby in Kapolei, including the state's construction of the North-South Road and adjoining H-1 interchange and a new housing development being built by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

Earlier this year, Grace Pacific agreed to vacate its makai parcel, moving its hot-mix asphalt facility to Campbell Industrial Park and crusher operation and other activities into the pit of the existing quarry. The relocation, which Grace Pacific has estimated will cost about $37 million, is to be completed in three years with three additional years needed for reclamation.

Last week, Grace Pacific made a second major concession, telling the Villages of Kapolei Community Association that it has substantially revised its quarry design to ease the visual impact of the quarry.

Currently with a vertical face of more than 90 percent slope in some parts, the new plan calls for a more natural and varied slope of between 50 and 66 percent up the hill.

"You're not seeing a vertical face," said Eric Pickle, a Washington state-based landscape architect with Tapestry Partners, who spoke to the Villages of Kapolei Association board last week. "All you're seeing is a textured green hillside."

Creps told the board the change will cost the company about 2 million of the projected 25 million tons of aggregate it anticipates could be mined from the expansion area.

Creps also told association members that the company is talking to one family that believes it has suffered health problems associated with the operation and will look at others as well. Asked if the company is willing to wash down the homes of those affected by dust from the operations, Creps didn't hesitate. "Yes, we are," he said.

OPPOSITION MOLLIFIED

Association president Greg Peterson said the changes have gone a long way toward mitigating the concerns raised by residents. As a result, the board voted 7-0 to rescind a previous position opposing the project.

The decision to relocate its makai operations was a significant development, Peterson said. It will decrease the truck traffic and the odors and the dust, he said.

Association vice president Lori Goeas, who had raised health concerns, was the only association board member to abstain from the vote to rescind the opposition to the quarry project.

While she appreciates the company's efforts, she said, "I still believe the quarry should not be located in the middle of our Second City where there is mutual acknowledgement of potential health hazards to our residents."

Kapolei resident Mark Schabel said the relocation of makai operations will ease smell and odor problems for residents makai but "I don't know about the dust."

Further, he said, "how do we really know the end state is really as they say it's going to be in 25 years?"

Board member Klaus Bertram also is skeptical. "I just don't like to see a quarry in the middle of this town," he said. "The rules of 1973 shouldn't apply in 2008."