About 300 oceanfront acres at Ooma that have been the center of several unsuccessful and controversial development proposals are for sale again. About 300 oceanfront acres at Ooma that have been the center of several unsuccessful and controversial development proposals
About 300 oceanfront acres at Ooma that have been the center of several unsuccessful and controversial development proposals are for sale again.
The parcels, 217 acres and 83 acres, just south of Kona International Airport, are listed at $26 million, with Cliff M. Morris as the broker. Messages left for Morris were not immediately returned Friday. Morris was the principal behind Clifto’s Kona Coast, one of the development plans for the land. Dennis Moresco, of Midland Pacific Homes in California, told state land use commissioners he had purchased the property outright for $35 million. The county property tax website lists Morris’ roughly $6 million purchase in 2002 as the most recent sale.
Kahala Capital in 1984 came first with a proposal to develop a 600-room hotel, 300 condominium units, an 18-hole golf course, a Sea World-type water park and ocean science center in the area. The county and state Office of Planning initially approved the project, but in 1993, the state Land Use Commission denied the petition to urbanize the property. Kahala Capital appealed the ruling, but 3rd Circuit Court Judge Ronald Ibarra upheld the commission’s findings in 1993.
Next was Morris, with Clifto’s Kona Coast project, a 400-room commuter hotel, 240 apartments and a shopping center. The County Council rejected that plan during the 2003-04 council session. California developer Dennis Moresco purchased the entire area, which includes an 83-acre mauka parcel and 217-acre makai piece, for nearly $35 million, according to previously published reports.
Moresco’s Ooma Beachside Village development went to the Land Use Commission several years ago. After more than a year of hearings, hours of testimony and hundreds of community members speaking out against Moresco’s proposed 950 to 1,200 residential units on 302 acres makai of Queen Kaahumanu Highway, commissioners rejected his boundary amendment request. The plan also included 1,100- to 1,700-foot shoreline setbacks.
The online advertisement for the property notes the property is “the last large oceanfront parcel left in West Hawaii! No more of it is being made,” as well as that the subzone creates a “worst case” situation in which just one home would be allowed on the 217-acre portion. Currently listed as conservation land, developers attempted to get an urban classification for the property to allow multiple homes and other uses.
West Hawaii residents have come out in force to oppose projects there, noting the popularity of the shoreline for camping and other recreational activities, as well as the proximity to the soon-to-expand airport, where more flights would mean more noise that would likely disturb homeowners in the proposed development.
