KAHUKU, Hawaii (KHON2) -- A Utah-based developer building luxury residential units near Turtle Bay Resort has voluntarily halted construction. The decision comes one month after the developer hosted a community open house with residents. Get Hawaii's latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You The developer, Arete Collective, co-purchased roughly 65 acres of land in April from then-Turtle Bay Resort owners Blackstone. Historic nesting of Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles confirmed on Kahoolawe Island On Friday, the area near the Palmer Course is blocked off by a large green dust fence, and heavy machinery that has dug holes. Arete Collective said it wants to get more community engagement before it begins more construction work. "It's really important to us that we're a good neighbor," said Becky Buchan, Arete Collective CEO. "We just felt like we still had some work to do with the community, and so we want to continue those conversations until after we have an opportunity to make our presentations at the neighborhood boards in November." From traffic to environmental concerns, many Koolauloa and North Shore residents are against new development and have been for years. "The pushback is because a lot has been taken from our communities, with very little given back, if anything," explained North Shore Neighborhood Board Vice-Chair Racquel Hill-Achiu. "The bottom line is this is a huge project that's impacting our coastline, our natural resources, and it's not just about taking space, it's about impacting our water resource, our traffic, we have one road, you're adding more people to our community. What is the plan? You know, we're in a housing crisis, but we're building luxury, million-dollar units that the community doesn't benefit from," she added. Could a vacant home tax end the housing crisis? "We've got shoreline issues, this is on the shoreline, I mean we have houses falling into the water with defiant landowners, so what happens when that ultimately happens to this property? I shared that with Arete Collective that, you know, there's the feeling that you're the developer, you get to build, sell, and walk away and we are left with what's left behind," Hill-Achiu said. Arete Collective can build up to 350 units, but phase one is 100 units. The group said it's still waiting on vertical building permits from the Department of Planning and Permitting. "Right now we've just begun the grading, the clearing of the trees, and also the grading work," explained Buchan. She said they have engaged with several biologists to understand the potential impacts of the area. In 2015, a conservation easement was signed preserving most of the 600 acres of land but allowing for some development in the future. Residents have raised concerns about the monk seals, albatross, and honu that are typically seen in the area. The North Shore Community Land Trust has been involved with the area since the late 90s and was part of the effort to create the conservation easement. Over the years, the group has worked on clearing invasive plants from the area. "We've seen albatross return to the area, we've seen engaged bees flourish in the area and increase the amount of honu and monk seal activity in the area, pupping and whatnot," said Adam Borrello, North Shore Community Land Trust executive director. Revolutionary City-State program uses architecture, neuroscience to heal trauma of homelessness "There are people in the community that hoped and thought the resolution was there would never be development at Turtle Bay which would be wonderful, and that's what a lot of people who support our organization would have loved to have seen, but what we got was a major improvement from over 3,500 additional hotel rooms to less than 750, so it wasn't perfection we were striving for in the early 2000s, but it was a huge improvement," he added. He said it's wonderful to hear the group has paused work and encourages the community to engage with the developers and learn more about the past agreement. Hill-Achiu said 750 additional units is still too much for the small communities but believes the project will be built regardless. "There are already standing agreements, there's the unilateral agreement, and they have their SMA. And unfortunately, SMAs don't have an expiration," she said. State Rep. Sean Quinlan (D) Waialua, Kahuku, Kahana said residents also have questions about a unilateral agreement dating back to 1986. "Why is this agreement from 1986 still valid given so much has changed on the North Shore since then?" Quinlan said. "We have a lot more residents, more visitors, issues with erosion, we know more today about endangered species than we ever had, it is an ecologically sensitive area and that's a big concern to us as well." "A lot of language in the UA is very vague, it requires developers to do things the community doesn't necessarily want to do anymore," Rep. Quinlan explained. "And I think for the community some of these plans have been in the works for a long time, and I think they were caught off guard and surprised by how quickly things were moving." Find more Hawaii, Oahu, Maui and Kauai news here He said some of the language requires the developer to build affordable housing but doesn't specify where it can be built, there's also language in the UA to require developers to widen Kamehameha Highway in that area and to build parks, "which might not be appropriate for the area, and these are all questions we need answers to," he said. Arete Collective said community engagement is important and has not set a date to resume construction.