Posted on: Thursday, August 8, 2002

Council OKs Hilton's plan for expansion

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser City Hall Writer

The City Council has given unanimous approval to a plan to expand the Hilton Hawaiian Village with a 38-story tower, a restaurant, a wedding chapel and a swimming pool on the site of the old Waikikian Hotel.

Some neighbors of the development and surfers who park nearby complain that the increased density that comes with the time-share/hotel tower will further degrade the quality of the neighborhood, worsen traffic and crowd out local people who go there to swim and surf.

Resident and surfer Tony Agao said he's concerned that any improvement to the Hilton "is going to take up the parking space where we the locals can take our families."

But Waikiki Neighborhood Board member Robert Finley said the board supported the plan after vigorous debate. He praised Hilton for "risking millions of dollars in the very weak economy we have today."

And longtime Ilikai apartment owner Robert Vogtritter said he supports the hotel's plan. He compares the artist's rendering of the new development next to his building to what he sees now when he looks out the window. "I see what is better described as a very unsightly alley that separates the Ilikai from the proposed development," he said.

The hotel is planning to put in a new traffic signal at Dewey Lane and Ala Moana, widen Dewey Lane and create a pedestrian plaza along Ala Moana/Dewey Lane. It also promises to clean up the man-made lagoon.

Councilman Steve Holmes praised the Hilton project as much improved over an earlier plan that he called Disney-like and "economically infeasible."

Cindy Jacobson, who owns an Ilikai apartment Ilikai, urged the council to consider worsening traffic problems in Waikiki. "Don't sacrifice our sense of place to improve Hilton's sense of place," she said.