HONOLULU -- The Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals heard arguments on Wednesday over the future of development on the North Shore near Turtle Bay Resort.

Kuilima Resort Co. wants to build a subdivision and expand Turtle Bay Resort, based on an approval it got in 1985. Lawyers for North Shore residents trying to stop the expansion want the court to require the developer to produce a new environmental impact statement.

"All we're asking is that they do what the law requires. They should consider the environmental impact on this project, especially such a giant project, a dinosaur project, a project that was approved 23 years ago and hasn't been built," attorney Rory Wicks said.

The developer argued there is nothing new about the expansion approved all those years ago.

"A supplemental environmental impact statement is not warranted really under any reading of the administrative," Kuilima Resort Co. attorney Sharon Lovejoy said.

However, North Shore residents argued that traffic is much worse now, and the resort expansion will add to it.

"For anybody on this island to claim, and specifically anybody who's been to the north shore, to claim that conditions are the same today as in 2000 is an absurdity,"

The court will render a decision later, despite the outcome, whoever loses is expected to appeal that decision.