Castle & Cooke Homes Hawai'i Inc. has reapplied for state land-use approval to build 3,500 homes at Koa Ridge Makai after resolving a lawsuit with a development partner in the stalled Central O'ahu project between Waiawa and Mililani.

The developer last week petitioned the state Land Use Commission to reclassify 575 acres of agricultural land for urban use by adding the project to a similar land-use petition filed last July to reclassify 191 acres about a half-mile away at Waiawa, on which Castle & Cooke plans 1,500 homes.

Koa Ridge Makai has been under planning since the mid-1990s on land formerly planted in pineapple. Early on, the project was envisioned largely as a retirement community with homes and a 100-acre medical mall with components that included a hospital and assisted living care, as well as a medical technology park, biotechnology center, medical hotel and a sports medicine complex. There also was an effort to have the University of Hawai'i build a new medical school at Koa Ridge.

Castle & Cooke in 2002 sought a land-use change for Koa Ridge Makai and Waiawa and won approval, but The Sierra Club sued to block the projects saying an environmental assessment should be done first.

A Circuit Court judge agreed, and that decision was upheld by the Hawai'i Supreme Court in a 2006 ruling nullifying the land-use change.

The developer filed a draft environmental impact statement last November for the Waiawa project. Castle & Cooke didn't pursue a new land use change or EIS for the Koa Ridge Makai part of the project because it was stalled due to a dispute with the Wahiawa Hospital Association. The dispute involved an agreement by the owner of Wahiawa General Hospital to buy 80 acres on which to develop medical facilities as part of the master-planned community.

Wahiawa Hospital Association and Castle & Cooke earlier this month announced a settlement to the suit, paving the way for Castle & Cooke to apply for a land-use change from the state by amending its July petition. Under the settlement between Wahiawa Hospital Association and Castle & Cooke, the developer is donating 28 acres to the nonprofit hospital operator on which to build and operate medical facilities.

Castle & Cooke said it plans to file a new EIS for the combined Waiawa/Koa Ridge project.

R. Don Olden, Wahiawa General Hospital CEO, said facilities being considered for Koa Ridge include emergency care services, surgical and other ambulatory services, diagnostic imaging, oncology services, acute inpatient care, physician offices and skilled nursing.

Olden said it hasn't been determined whether the Koa Ridge medical facilities will replace the 51-year-old Wahiawa hospital as previously proposed. "That's an open issue at this point," he said. "The market conditions have changed, so we've got to re-evaluate what is needed by the community."

Olden said the hospital expects to flesh out its plan after land-use and zoning changes are obtained.

Castle & Cooke anticipates a 2010 start of home construction that would deliver initial units for occupancy in 2012 if land-use and zoning changes are obtained.