Considering Hawai'i's white- hot real estate market, it is understandable that authorities in charge of redeveloping the waterfront area of Kaka'ako are entranced by the idea of putting housing on much of the remaining 36 acres of developable land there.

The housing would produce income for the state and foot traffic for the businesses and shops that would follow. It would be a relatively easy project for developers to finance and complete.

But this is a classic case of where the best short-term solution might well not be the best long-term solution nor the best use of prime waterfront property.

The land, between Ala Moana and the existing Kaka'ako Waterfront Park, is one of the few remaining under-developed jewels of urban Honolulu. Once it is built up, that will be it.

If planners look beyond short-term economics, they may conclude that the best use of this property going forward 20, 40 or more years will be to keep it largely open and focused on public use.

Is there room for some commercial development there, perhaps combined with some residential use? Of course.

But the vision at the moment seems to be to maximize the property for what would be very high-end, high-rise residential development.

Any plan for the area must consider public access to the waterfront.

A bit of history might be in order. Those who now use or enjoy Magic Island, at the other end of Ala Moana Park, might ponder how this key recreational amenity was once slated for development. The man-made peninsula was originally thought to be a grand place for a "new" Waikiki, later as site for a world trade center or a "Tivoli Gardens" style amusement park and later yet as a complex of shops and restaurants with some park use.

In the end, community opposition, fading development interest and a changing political landscape resulted in what we have today: an invaluable oceanfront community park.

Later, a furious political battle erupted in 1969-70 over what was called "Phase III" of Magic Island, another proposed landfill peninsula at the Kewalo Basin end of Ala Moana Park. Again, concerns about walling off the ocean and devoting prime oceanfront lands to development led eventually to the death of the project and of the Phase III idea altogether.

From the hindsight of decades, clearly the right decisions were made.

Now, we have an opportunity to take this exquisite piece of land between downtown Honolulu and the waterfront and do something extraordinary, even world-class, to use an overworked term.

Might this extraordinary project include some housing, commercial and recreational use? Of course. But it would be a shame to lose the future to another affluent high-rise neighborhood.

We have the imagination and the guts to do better than that. The Kaka'aka Development Authority should take a deep breath and go back to the drawing board, this time with a more comprehensive vision for developing what's left of Hawai'i's prime waterfront property.