Manoa residents protest proposed development on former St. Francis campus

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A group of Manoa residents gathered at the intersection of East Manoa Road and Oahu Avenue to sign wave to drivers in traffic, which they said will get worse if a developer’s plan continues to move forward.
The group braved the rainy rush hour to protest Aria Lane Manoa, a housing development by Avalon Group on the former campus of St. Francis School.
“Basically we feel that this was a mistake from the beginning for Avalon to make a decision to site a high-density, for-profit, large housing project,” said Manoa resident and organizer Ellen Sofio.
Avalon purchased the 11-acre parcel from the Catholic Church for $23.5 million earlier this year.
It originally planned to build 76 single-family homes and 26 townhomes. The developer has scaled that back to 79 single-family homes and 14 multifamily units.
Skeptical residents said that’s still too much for the area’s narrow roads, including one-lane Pamoa Road, which leads to Aria Lane’s entrance.
“This Aria Lane development is just going to create too much traffic, not only for us on Pamoa Road, but for all of Manoa,” said resident Alan Lau. “It’s going to be terrible.”
“The traffic coming out of there has to come to five different intersections, and they’re all hard to get out of already,” said longtime resident Jane Fyrberg.
Avalon Group CEO Christine Camp met with the community four times last May to hear their concerns. In a statement Thursday night, she said, “We are diligently working on delivering homes in Manoa in a manner that is respectful to the community.”
The company also changed the parking design to make room for all residents and visitors within the development.
Opponents still say the former campus should be used for other purposes.
“The best think I think would be is if (the University of Hawaii) acquired that property. They’d have a place for their Lab School,” said Lau.
“We feel that it should be preserved as a historic place and be a sanctuary for the community and a place for education about Hawaiian history, culture and language,” said Sofio.
No building permits have been issued yet, but Avalon is readying an archaeological study and other work preparations.
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