Honolulu Waldorf School still wants to build a high school on its Niu Valley campus, despite objections the community aired six months ago that the school causes too much traffic and noise.

If Waldorf gets the government approvals and financing to build the high school, it would add 100 students to the campus that now has 240 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

The school has taken measures to address community concerns, said Winslow Eliot, Waldorf School community relations director. Letters are sent home to parents reminding them that they shouldn't use residents' driveways for U-turns and that they should be quiet when walking through the neighborhood after evening events, Eliot said.

The school, which now has a high school on Hunakai Street in Kahala, will make a presentation to the community on Thursday.

The presentation is a requirement of the city's planning department that is processing the school's conditional use permit. If the city issues the permits, the school still must obtain financing, Eliot said. Waldorf hopes to begin construction in May 2007.

The school on Ulua Street was established in 1961 and is in the middle of a housing development of about 420 homes. If Waldorf builds the new high school in Niu Valley, it will close down the high school in Kahala.

"Parking is a major concern for us," Eliot said. "We have to absolutely take care of that. We have had our traffic impact study done and in hand. We put in place some of the recommendations and it's been a big help with the flow of traffic. If we can keep that going it will help."

The high school, which would house grades nine through 12, would be a 10,000-square-foot, two-story building at the rear of the campus.

This is the second time the school has attempted to build a high school on its Niu Valley campus in 10 years, said Niu Valley resident Marty Plotnick.

"People are concerned about the saturation in the neighborhood," Plotnick said. "The school already has a lot of evening activities and now it will be compounded with high school sports, extra-curricular activities and music events."

Niu Valley is a tight-knit community of mostly original homeowners who have lived in their homes for 40 years or more, Plotnick said. Many are home during the day. The valley also has a public middle school on Halema'uma'u Street.

Don Clegg, a consultant hired by the school to present its plans, said in a letter to the neighborhood board that the "new high school will allow the Waldorf School to offer their unique educational system to students from preschool through high school on one campus."

The so-called "green" building will use low-flow water fixtures, water recycling and reclamation and irrigation management. It will be built of reused or recycled materials and use solar lighting. The school's board of trustees believes that having a green building will serve "as an education in and of itself to the students."

"There are a lot of questions about the high school coming here," Eliot said. "We have not heard any complaints since the beginning of the year. We also have made an effort to contact the neighborhood when we have an event. I hope that's helped. Our heart is in the right place."

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.