The owner of Hawaiian Memorial Park has dropped controversial plans to develop 20 residential lots near the existing Pikoiloa subdivision, but said it intends to move ahead with expanding the Kane'ohe cemetery despite community opposition.

Texas-based Service Corp. International, which owns the 80-acre cemetery, last year announced plans to expand Hawaiian Memorial Park by 56 acres including six acres near the Pohai Nani retirement facility devoted to the residential lots.

But after an outpouring of opposition largely from nearby residents, the company recently reduced its plan to only the cemetery expansion.

SCI filed an amended land-use petition and a proposed final environmental impact statement earlier this month with the state Land Use Commission detailing the changes.

At a Kane'ohe Neighborhood Board meeting on Thursday, however, community concerns remained.

"The neighbors still don't like it," said Patty Yamashiro-Hironaka, a board member.

The original proposal, which led to a draft environmental impact statement filed in June, drew 148 written comments, largely from community members who feared the project would increase trouble with traffic and flooding in the area. Other concerns included the loss of the natural green hillside, inadequate treatment of archeological sites and opposition to living next to a graveyard.

J. Yazaki, a Lipalu Street resident who has lived in the Pikoiloa area since 1964, wrote: "I chose this area because of the lush green hillside in the back of my home. Please do not destroy what I have enjoyed all these years. I would like to continue to enjoy it for a very long time."

Scott Ezer, a planner with the local firm Helber Hastert and Fee assisting SCI with its plan, said the cemetery owner is hopeful that its changes address most concerns and lead to government approvals.

Ezer said that eliminating the residential lots and a planned road extension to access the lots should alleviate a main concern about traffic and opposition to the plan that focused on residential development.

Other changes made by SCI to address concerns include establishing a nine-acre cultural preserve to protect archaeological sites and maintain large areas of laua'e ferns for people to gather.

Another addition to the plan is establishing a network of grass-lined storm water runoff retention areas covering 1.3 acres.

The plan also anticipates mitigating rockfall hazards by one or more measures that include removing boulders, establishing a buffer zone and installing netting or fencing.

Jeannine Johnson, a Niu Valley resident whose parents are buried at Hawaiian Memorial, said the plan changes haven't changed her position on the project.

"I'm still against it," she said. "It's conservation land and we need to protect it. Once it's gone, it's gone."

SCI has petitioned the Land Use Commission to reclassify the proposed expansion area from the state Conservation District to the Urban District because cemeteries are not an allowed use in the Conservation District.

A county zoning change would later be sought from restricted preservation to general preservation, which allows cemeteries. Previously, SCI was going to seek a zoning change to residential.

Public hearings will be held for both the Land Use Commission action, which is anticipated in or around January, and a City Council zoning change.

If approved, actual cemetery expansion as proposed would be limited to 36 acres, while 11 acres would be graded, revegetated and left in open space excluding the 9-acre cultural preserve. About 100 adjacent acres of SCI property would not be developed, the company said.

As part of the estimated $6 million cemetery expansion, SCI plans to build four mausoleums for entombing casketed or cremated remains. The mausoleums would be one-story structures 24 feet high, 24 feet wide and 200 feet long.

SCI said it seeks to expand the cemetery to accommodate Hawai'i's aging population and dwindling available plots at Hawaiian Memorial, which opened in 1961 and is one of the state's largest cemeteries.

Hawaiian Memorial is the final resting place for about 30,000 people, and on average annually adds 700 to 800 burials and 200 cremation interments. With 6,000 to 7,000 available plots, SCI said it needs to make more space available in the near term, especially because some available plots are typically kept for people who may later decide they want to be buried close to relatives.

The company, if it receives approvals by mid-2010, anticipates expanding the cemetery in three phases of roughly 15 acres each, with the initial phase completed in 2011 and the final phase completed in 10 to 20 years.

The last time the cemetery, which first opened on six acres, was granted approval to expand was in 1997 when the City Council rezoned eight acres from agriculture use to general preservation.