More Housing In Honolulu Means More Density. Are Monster Homes The Only Way?… As single-family neighborhoods rebel against apartment-like houses, developers are coming up with creative alternatives.
In a vacuum, the project might have been a reasonable response to Oahu’s housing needs: a nine-bedroom, seven-bath house with four separate entrances and spaces for several cars.
What’s more, according to Patrick Smith, president of the Nuuanu/Punchbowl Neighborhood Board which oversees the Pacific Heights area where the project was to be located, the house was being built to house workers. That would make it exactly the sort of workforce housing the island needs.
The problem is the house was going to be in a quiet residential neighborhood of historic homes. And even if the structure technically met the density criteria allowed by Honolulu’s land-use ordinance, its apparent intended use – as essentially an apartment building or dormitory – simply wouldn’t be allowed in a place zoned for single-family homes.
