MILILANI, Hawaii -- Mililani Mauka residents joined forces at a neighborhood board meeting Wednesday night, to oppose an affordable housing project in their community.

It was standing room only at the Mililani Recreation Center 3. One neighborhood board member said it was largest turn out he’s ever seen.

Mililani residents said they’re upset because they were promised an arts center on a parcel of vacant land on Meheula Parkway, between Lehiwa Drive and Kuaoa Street. They only recently discovered the plans have changed to include a proposed affordable housing complex.

Castle and Cooke’s Harry Saunders confirmed it currently has an agreement with developer Gary Furuta, who wants to build the housing complex on the 7.5-acre site. Furuta is proposing a three story, 226-unit complex.

The state Housing Finance and Development Corp., a state agency, approved a $9.7 million loan for Furuta, for the land purchase and project design.

The controversial plan is why about 350 Mililani residents crammed into a Mililani Neighborhood Board meeting Wednesday night. A long line of residents lined up to sign up to testify against the proposed plan.

“The infrastructure cannot handle the extra 800 to a 1,000 people they plan on adding to this neighborhood,” said Mililani resident Jay Walters.

“We’re too congested already. The traffic getting out of Mililani Mauka in the morning and getting back in the afternoon is just atrocious,” said Mililani resident Phil Hanson.

“The schools. In the middle school, there are 1,800 kids in a school built for 1,000,” said Walters.

Mililani residents said they never had any input on the project and they accuse landowner Castle and Cooke of selling homes with the promise the vacant land would be used for an arts center and small retail center.

“Feel the community was misled because Castle and Cooke said they were going to do these things. They didn’t follow through,” said Hanson.

Saunders said Castle and Cooke has been waiting for years, but the nonprofit group Oahu Arts Center failed to meet a crucial deadline to prove that it had the financial backing to build and operate an arts center on the land.

“There was never an agreement that we would have money in the bank to construct,” said Mililani resident and Oahu Arts Center’s Melissa Vomvoris.

Vomvoris said the center had many potential donors, but no one was willing to commit without a land commitment from Castle and Cooke.

“Catch 22. They found a way out and a way to make a buck. And it’s off the skins of the homeowners now,” Vomvoris said.

Castle and Cooke said it gave the Oahu Arts Center many years before it started looking for other opportunities for the land. Saunders said the current plan is a chance to provide much needed affordable housing and jobs.

Saunders also said although there is an agreement with Furuta, the sale is not yet final. Furuta also has many other approvals and permits to obtain.

The neighborhood board approved a resolution that opposes the proposed affordable housing complex.

Furuta was unavailable for comment Wednesday night.