The Honolulu City Council adopted a resolution authorizing exemptions from certain city requirements for the Laulima affordable rental housing project in Kapolei, Oʻahu, including waivers of city fees and charges tied to a state-authorized affordable housing process.

Council Member Kia Aina said the Laulima project advances a long-planned community in Kapolei West and noted the project sits on a 17.3-acre site along Kapolei Parkway. He explained the measure authorizes exemptions that would reduce city fees and charges; the transcript indicates the council approved waivers representing $2,140,000 of city fees and charges out of $4,390,000 requested. Several speakers supported the project in committee, including Mark Anthony Clemente on behalf of the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters.

Kia Aina raised several concerns for colleagues: the interplay between state agency authority (the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, HHFDC) under Act 294 and the council’s role; potential "double-dipping" where units already required under a Kapolei West unilateral agreement would be further subsidized by city fee waivers; and whether the 201H process would trigger a larger affordable requirement for the overall master plan. He urged the applicant to consider unilateral agreement conditions, warning that failure to satisfy those conditions could, in theory, expose the zone change approval to revocation under existing agreements.

Council Member Tupelo supported the resolution and highlighted community outreach, noting the project had been presented to neighborhood boards and that the existing Kapolei West approvals required significant parkland. Tupelo also said she would work with HHFDC and the developer to find ways to reduce project costs and deepen affordability.

The council adopted CR 297 and Resolution 205-236 CD1 as amended. Several members recorded reservations during roll call but the final vote carried; the council clerk recorded nine ayes on the item.