Kapolei and Makakilo residents will get one last chance to voice their opinions about the planned expansion of the Makakilo Quarry at a public hearing tomorrow at City Hall.

Grace Pacific Corp. is seeking a conditional use permit from the city Department of Planning and Permitting to allow for expansion and continued operation of its rock-mining activity at Pu'u Makakilo just mauka of H-1 Freeway.

The permit would allow the company to operate an additional 25 years, and to expand its dig area by about 20 percent.

The company says it is running out of quality aggregate in the area currently being mined.

Neighbors in the Kapolei-Makakilo region have questioned the rationale behind allowing a rock quarry to continue in an area that is now in the middle of one of the most rapidly developing communities in the state.

Specific complaints have been raised about dust, pollution, noise, truck traffic and view planes caused by both the existing and future operations.

Grace Pacific has made a number of concessions, but at least some residents say they're still not sold on the expansion.

Planning Director David Tanoue will have the final say on whether to issue the permit.

Tanoue said Friday that he expects to make a decision within about 30 days of tomorrow's hearing.

Greg Peterson, president of the board of the Villages of Kapolei Homeowners Association that represents about 2,500 families in nine subdivisions, said his group would like the quarry to ultimately cease operations.

"While we prefer that the quarry not be there on its current site, we are in ongoing consultations with Grace Pacific regarding monitoring of quarry operations and developing a viable exit plan that will not hurt our community," Peterson said.

The company gained a measure of good will when it moved its hot-mix asphalt plant to Campbell Industrial Park late last year, he said. The hot-mix asphalt plant had been located at Grace Pacific's operations base makai of H-1 near several Kapolei subdivisions and had been the source of a bulk of the complaints.

Peterson also noted that his group is not satisfied with Grace Pacific's decision to hire a professional claims adjuster to process quarry-related complaints raised by residents.

The association would prefer a process that allows for a more independent evaluation of such claims, Peterson said.

Shane Peters, a Grace Pacific spokesman, said the company has received 16 claims since the process began last July. Of those, four have been settled, two denied, two withdrawn and seven are still pending.

Peters declined to discuss the amounts of the settlements. Most of the claims have dealt with dust issues, he said.

As for the concerns about the impartiality of the claims adjuster, Peters said the company used "a fairly objective process."

John Riggins, a resident of the nearby Malanai subdivision, said despite his continuing objections, he's resigned to the likelihood that the quarry operations will expand and continue.

"We know we're not going to be able to stop it," he said.

Riggins disputes the company's claims that wind patterns do not routinely blow dust from the operation into Kapolei neighborhoods. He's also worried that the increased operations will affect Makakilo residents.