OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Honolulu Infrastructure Committee Meeting on Iwilei Center Redevelopment - April 1, 2026

City CouncilWednesday, April 1, 2026
BodyHonolulu, Hawaii
SessionCity Council
DateWednesday, April 1, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record

STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE

Transcript — Verbatim
4:17

Good morning.

4:18

Uh, will the committee on infrastructure transportation and technology please come to order?

4:23

It is Wednesday, April one, twenty twenty-six at nine oh five AM, and I would like to welcome our committee vice chair Okimoto, as well as Committee Member Dosantos Tam and uh Committee Member Weyer is on his way.

4:47

Pursuant to section ninety two dash three point seven, the Hawaii revised statutes HRS.

4:53

This meeting will be conducted as a remote meeting by interactive conference conference technology with the following procedures in effect for the meeting.

5:00

Members of the public will be allowed to provide oral testimony on all items on the agenda through two ways, remotely and in person in the council chamber.

5:09

Remote and in-person oral testimony will be allowed when the agenda item is taken up.

5:14

As both English and Hawaiian are in our official languages of the state of Hawaii, pursuant to Article 15 section 4 of the Hawaii State Constitution and HRIS Section 1-13.

5:27

Members of the public may testify in either language.

5:30

For oral testimonies offered in Olado Hawaii, additional time as may be necessary will be allowed to the testifier to provide an English translation of their testimony.

5:42

Before testifying, um each person, I will ask each person to state their name, and each speaker may not have anyone else read their statement and is limited to a one-minute presentation on each item.

5:55

All persons who have registered to testify remotely by video conference or phone will be called upon first.

6:03

When their name is called, please monitor your uh their screen.

6:07

They will be asked to monitor their screen and activate their audio feed when prompted.

6:11

I'll then give persons who have not registered an opportunity to offer testimony.

6:16

Please utilize a raise hand feature on Zoom to be called upon.

6:20

For those who are joining us by telephone only, please press star nine to indicate your desire to speak.

6:27

I will then identify uh that person by the last three digits of your phone number.

6:33

Um when that phone number is called, please press star six to unmute yourself when prompted.

6:38

Some friendly reminders and tips.

6:40

Video conference from a quiet location if possible.

6:43

If you're also watching the proceedings on Olelo, please mute your television at the time you are called to testify.

6:49

When the timer on the screen reaches zero, please conclude your remarks promptly.

6:53

Once all the remote testifiers have testified, I'll proceed to in-person testimony in the council chamber.

6:59

Persons who have not registered will be given an opportunity, opportunity to speak following the oral testimonies of the registered speakers.

7:31

Um with that member and cannot reconvene until we we re-establish contact.

7:36

Therefore, I will ask that member to announce beforehand if they will be voluntarily signing out of the meeting.

7:42

Written testimonies, including the testifier's address, email address, and phone number, will be available to the public as described on the posted agenda.

7:50

As a courtesy, please turn off or silence your cell phone or mobile devices.

7:58

Okay, with that, um we have counseled for uh agenda item number one.

8:05

Um the this would have been the last item or last uh part of our series to talk about um pedestrian fatalities as well as actions by our state and city agencies to discuss uh road safety.

8:21

Um, as you all know, we had the Honolulu Police Department as well as uh the city's Department of Transportation Services with us a few months ago.

8:32

Uh the state of the state of Hawaii's Department of Transportation was ready to go.

8:38

Um, our director Ed Sniffin.

8:40

Um, however, he was called out and so called out to Waialua, and um we will be canceling that item um for today.

8:50

With that, we now have just one agenda item um moving forward, uh, which is the update on the city's redevelopment efforts for Evilet Center and the future skyline Kubili station area.

9:04

Joining us um from in the council chamber is Kevin Alger, Director of the Department of Housing and Land Management, who will be providing a brief description for your information.

9:16

The presentation is available online as Departmental Communication 223 2026 here.

9:24

Okay, wow, it's really quite a hefty presentation, director.

9:28

Luckily, you're the only one, yeah.

9:30

Uh so um with that, uh, we'll kick it over to the executive to the director of the department of housing and land management.

9:38

That's great.

9:40

Aloha, and good morning, committee chair Cordero, uh Committee Vice Chair Oakimoto and Councilmember DeSantos TAM.

9:47

It's a pleasure to be here this morning.

9:49

And before we begin, I just I want to thank the committee chair for the opportunity to present this information this morning.

9:55

We really appreciate that.

10:00

We also want to give a shout out to your staff who's been just extraordinarily supportive and helpful in scheduling and helping us organize this.

10:05

So we really appreciate all of that uh collaboration.

10:09

Um this morning we're gonna talk about the city's efforts uh to redevelop the Yvolay Center uh property and also our efforts to uh master plan and develop um the future, the area around the future Cooley Rail Station.

10:24

Um, as we know and are familiar with the skyline is now a reality.

10:31

Segments one and two are operational, and segment three is projected to be operational by um 2031.

10:41

Along the rail corridor for the last 10 or 12 years, the Department of Planning and Permitting has been working with the council with communities uh in uh these areas along the skyline rail station areas to develop transit oriented development uh plans.

10:56

All of these plans have been thoroughly vetted with the communities, they've been approved by city council, and um with the skyline now active, it's an opportunity for uh the administration and council to activate these TOD areas, and we're really excited about that.

11:13

One area that we'll be focused on this morning is the Cooley rail station area, and that area is roughly can be defined roughly as is bounded by Dillingham Boulevard, uh North King Street, Evil A Road, and Cooley Street.

11:27

Uh the area is approximately, it's approximately 17 to 18 acres.

11:34

Um it's a historically underserved community.

11:38

It is uh largely industrial, it's been that way for the last hundred years or so.

11:42

It used to be the former terminus for the uh Oahu Rail and Land uh Corporation, O RNL.

11:49

Uh it represents an obsolete plat.

11:52

Um there's only one way in, uh Tony's Gas next to Tony's Gas, right off of Dillingham Road.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Affordable Housing████████████████████████24%
Zoning And Planning███████████████████████23%
Funds Management███████████11%
Transportation Safety██████████10%
Procedural████████8%
Public Engagement███████7%
Economic Development██████6%
Water And Wastewater Management█████5%
Environmental Protection███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Honolulu Committee on Infrastructure, Transportation and Technology Meeting - April 1, 2026

The Committee on Infrastructure, Transportation and Technology met on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, at 9:05 AM via remote and in-person conference, chaired by Councilmember Cordero. The primary agenda item was a presentation by Department of Housing and Land Management Director Kevin Alger on the city's redevelopment efforts for the Iwilei Center and the future Kūwili Skyline Station area. A previously scheduled item on pedestrian fatalities and road safety was canceled.

Canceled Agenda Item

  • Item 1 – Pedestrian Fatalities and Road Safety: The item was canceled because Hawaii Department of Transportation Director Ed Sniffin was called away to Waialua. No discussion occurred.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No registered or in-person testifiers were present. Chair Cordero called for testimony but received none.

Discussion Items

  • Update on Iwilei Center and Kūwili Station Area Redevelopment: Director Kevin Alger presented a comprehensive update. Key points included:
    • The city acquired the Iwilei Center (approx. 4 acres) in January 2024, located 50-60 feet from the future Kūwili rail station.
    • The wider Kūwili station area (17-18 acres) is bounded by Dillingham Boulevard, North King Street, Iwilei Road, and Kūwili Street. The city and state together control approximately 70% of the land.
    • The site has historically been industrial and underserved. The city is working to acquire remaining private parcels (four under contract, one offer issued this week).
    • With a master-planned approach, the site could potentially accommodate up to 3,000 housing units. The Iwilei Center alone is expected to yield nearly 950 units (up from an earlier estimate of 750), developed by a team including EAH Housing and Cortech Development from Guam.
    • Funding secured: $2 million from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) TOD pilot grant (highest award among 10 awardees from 30 applications), $700,000 from the state Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, $250,000 from the Department of Planning and Permitting, and $75,000 from an EPA grant – totaling over $3 million for master planning and infrastructure studies.
    • A consulting team led by BDP Quadrangle, Nippon Koei, and SSF International was awarded in November 2025 to conduct the master planning and infrastructure analysis.
    • Challenges include FEMA flood map updates (effective June 2026) affecting a portion of the site, especially state-controlled land near the Liliha Civic Center, which will be in a regulatory floodway. The city is working on flood mitigation, including land raising and passive techniques like vertical parking.
    • Director Alger emphasized the collaborative effort involving over 50 individuals from city, state, and federal agencies, including the One Water team.
    • Councilmember DeSantos Tam (district representative) expressed strong support and asked about timelines for interim steps, TOD zoning acceleration (currently not expected until 2030-2031), and the need for tools like housing infrastructure bonds (TIF) currently under legislative consideration. He urged the city to clearly support the state constitutional amendment for TIF.
    • Councilmember Okimoto asked about massing models, the rationale for using international comparables (Tokyo, Vancouver), flood mitigation plans, and the process for securing grants. She requested a future presentation from the One Water group on infrastructure planning across TOD areas.
    • Chair Cordero inquired about infrastructure planning being holistic rather than project-by-project and noted the importance of learning from this effort for other TOD corridors.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal votes or resolutions were taken. The presentation was informational.
  • Director Alger committed to returning within six months with a progress update on the master plan, including unit count, street layout, and utility costs.
  • Councilmember Okimoto requested that the One Water group be invited to a future committee meeting to discuss infrastructure planning citywide.
  • Councilmember DeSantos Tam announced a town hall meeting at 215 North King Street at 6 PM to discuss HART construction in the Iwilei area.
  • The meeting was adjourned after no further business.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning. Uh, will the committee on infrastructure transportation and technology please come to order? It is Wednesday, April one, twenty twenty-six at nine oh five AM, and I would like to welcome our committee vice chair Okimoto, as well as Committee Member Dosantos Tam and uh Committee Member Weyer is on his way. Pursuant to section ninety two dash three point seven, the Hawaii revised statutes HRS. This meeting will be conducted as a remote meeting by interactive conference conference technology with the following procedures in effect for the meeting. Members of the public will be allowed to provide oral testimony on all items on the agenda through two ways, remotely and in person in the council chamber. Remote and in-person oral testimony will be allowed when the agenda item is taken up. As both English and Hawaiian are in our official languages of the state of Hawaii, pursuant to Article 15 section 4 of the Hawaii State Constitution and HRIS Section 1-13. Members of the public may testify in either language. For oral testimonies offered in Olado Hawaii, additional time as may be necessary will be allowed to the testifier to provide an English translation of their testimony. Before testifying, um each person, I will ask each person to state their name, and each speaker may not have anyone else read their statement and is limited to a one-minute presentation on each item. All persons who have registered to testify remotely by video conference or phone will be called upon first. When their name is called, please monitor your uh their screen. They will be asked to monitor their screen and activate their audio feed when prompted. I'll then give persons who have not registered an opportunity to offer testimony. Please utilize a raise hand feature on Zoom to be called upon. For those who are joining us by telephone only, please press star nine to indicate your desire to speak. I will then identify uh that person by the last three digits of your phone number. Um when that phone number is called, please press star six to unmute yourself when prompted. Some friendly reminders and tips. Video conference from a quiet location if possible. If you're also watching the proceedings on Olelo, please mute your television at the time you are called to testify. When the timer on the screen reaches zero, please conclude your remarks promptly. Once all the remote testifiers have testified, I'll proceed to in-person testimony in the council chamber. Persons who have not registered will be given an opportunity, opportunity to speak following the oral testimonies of the registered speakers. Um with that member and cannot reconvene until we we re-establish contact. Therefore, I will ask that member to announce beforehand if they will be voluntarily signing out of the meeting. Written testimonies, including the testifier's address, email address, and phone number, will be available to the public as described on the posted agenda. As a courtesy, please turn off or silence your cell phone or mobile devices. Okay, with that, um we have counseled for uh agenda item number one. Um the this would have been the last item or last uh part of our series to talk about um pedestrian fatalities as well as actions by our state and city agencies to discuss uh road safety. Um, as you all know, we had the Honolulu Police Department as well as uh the city's Department of Transportation Services with us a few months ago. Uh the state of the state of Hawaii's Department of Transportation was ready to go. Um, our director Ed Sniffin. Um, however, he was called out and so called out to Waialua, and um we will be canceling that item um for today. With that, we now have just one agenda item um moving forward, uh, which is the update on the city's redevelopment efforts for Evilet Center and the future skyline Kubili station area. Joining us um from in the council chamber is Kevin Alger, Director of the Department of Housing and Land Management, who will be providing a brief description for your information. The presentation is available online as Departmental Communication 223 2026 here. Okay, wow, it's really quite a hefty presentation, director. Luckily, you're the only one, yeah. Uh so um with that, uh, we'll kick it over to the executive to the director of the department of housing and land management. That's great. Aloha, and good morning, committee chair Cordero, uh Committee Vice Chair Oakimoto and Councilmember DeSantos TAM. It's a pleasure to be here this morning. And before we begin, I just I want to thank the committee chair for the opportunity to present this information this morning. We really appreciate that. We also want to give a shout out to your staff who's been just extraordinarily supportive and helpful in scheduling and helping us organize this. So we really appreciate all of that uh collaboration. Um this morning we're gonna talk about the city's efforts uh to redevelop the Yvolay Center uh property and also our efforts to uh master plan and develop um the future, the area around the future Cooley Rail Station. Um, as we know and are familiar with the skyline is now a reality.

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