HONOLULU -- Hundreds of North Shore residents gathered at Kahuku High School on Tuesday night to voice their opinions on Gov. Linda Lingle's plan to purchase Turtle Bay Resort.

The overflow crowd came to talk about how the state might find a way to purchase and preserve the Turtle Bay property, including miles of undeveloped North Shore coastline.

As people streamed into the meeting, various factions were lobbying for their causes, and the governor told the audience that Turtle Bay is where she wants to make a stand.

"That this is a place where we didn't just talk about sustainability, didn't just talk about smart growth, we actually did something about it," Lingle said.

Some groups fully support the use of state money to preserve the area.

"Defend Oahu Coalition is just absolutely ecstatic and excited about the proposed initiative," said coalition representative Mark Cunningham. "The North Shore has a long history of preservation; keeping it green ... and we're hoping that will continue on undeveloped property around Turtle Bay."

But others demanded the money be spent on other things.

"We'd rather put the money into the community. Fix the schools, the roads, education system, other than buying the hotel properties," said plan opponent Gary Nagy.

Native Hawaiians spoke up about burial issues.

"Developers that are trying to develop, homeowners that have beach front property and interest in it -- you guys forget that there's people buried under many of your so-called owned property," one unidentified native Hawaiian said.