The decision on the gas station site is good news to residents who feel that a station on the small parcel next to the park and ride facility would create traffic havoc on four-lane Keahole Street. A park would better serve the community, they say. The land, owned by Kamehameha Schools, is zoned preservation, which allows for parks and golf courses, cemeteries and certain kinds of agriculture. A change in zoning would have been required for the gas station to be built there.

Meanwhile, plans to expand the store, which opened more than a decade ago, have been put on hold until after the holiday season because of delays with city building permits and because some tenants are still in the medical plaza where the big-box retailer would expand. The store plans to expand from 105,000 square feet to 150,000 square feet by taking over the space where the medical plaza is.

"Our gas station plans are in limbo," said Bruce Greenwood, Costco senior vice president. "We had been looking across the street but to develop the parcel into the size station we wanted would have cost more than $4 million. We're now looking to put a gas station on the same site as the store."

No city permits have been applied for concerning the gas station, said City Councilman Charles Djou. Djou praised the store for not pushing the development on the land across Keahole Street for a gas station. He also said that there's a chance that Costco could take over the lease of Tesoro Hawai'i station on Keahole Street, which is on a lease with Kamehameha Schools. Representatives from Tesoro did not return calls.

Todd Shelly, a Hawai'i Kai resident for six years, was happy to hear that there won't be more cars coming into the community to get gas.

"I feel as long as the gas station and the expansion has a minimal impact on the traffic, it would be OK," Shelly said. "But I see a lack of vision or creativity here for these waterfront sites. Someone in the city should say we should buy that waterfront land and keep it for park land."

A park or some kind of open space would be a great asset to the community that is in the midst of a major building boom.

"In the best-case scenario, I'd like to see the city condemn that land and make it a park," Djou said. "But there's no money in the city. So realistically the next best thing is for some kind of business to use that land and take advantage of the water."

Costco had hoped to begin construction on its expansion by July 1 so that it would be done in time for the Christmas shopping season, Greenwood said. The store's building permits, however, have been stalled in a backlog at the city Department of Planning and Permitting. Without that permit, construction cannot begin, he said. Construction likely will start in January.

An option for Costco, if it decides to build a gas station at the Hawai'i Kai Towne Centre, would be to build a double-decker parking garage, he said.

Resident Elizabeth Reilly, a member of Livable Hawai'i Kai Hui, a land-use community group, said she'd support any kind of expansion from Costco as long as it remained in areas set aside for commercial activities.

"Residents do want cheap gas, but not if it means rezoning or more congestion," she said.