Developer will change plansBY PAUL C. CURTIS TGI Staff Writer LIHU’E — Kaua’i Planning Commission chairman Gary Baldwin yesterday was able to convince Amy Awtrey to withdraw her application for a controversial retreat center in a rural neighborhood off Kawaihau
Developer will change plansBY PAUL C. CURTIS
TGI Staff Writer
LIHU’E — Kaua’i Planning Commission chairman Gary Baldwin
yesterday was able to convince Amy Awtrey to withdraw her application for a
controversial retreat center in a rural neighborhood off Kawaihau Road in
Kapahi.
But it wasn’t because of widespread neighborhood opposition to the
plan.
Awtrey wrote a letter to the commission last week in which she made
changes that the commission and county attorneys felt mandated more public
hearings on the project.
Rather than just amend the application and go
through the entire public hearing process again, Awtrey agreed, at Baldwin’s
recommendation, to resubmit her application with the proposed changes.
This
discussion took place several hours after people for and against the project
had a chance to comment on county Planning Department requests and a
recommendation that the commission approve permits for the Kahuna Springs
project on land owned by Awtrey and her daughters at the intersection of Kahuna
and Ahiahi roads.
Awtrey said she’s trying to allay neighbors’ fears that
the commercial use of her property will forever alter the tranquility of their
neighborhood.
But even with concessions Awtrey is willing to make —
including moving kitchen and office facilities down to property along Kuhio
Highway in Wailua called Wailua Village — her neighbors aren’t likely to
soften their stance against the project, many of them said.
A rare
“drop-dead clause,” which gave the project just two years to prove itself a
good neighbor before having to again come in for permits, didn’t satisfy the
opposition, either.
A Kahuna Road property owner, Joe Prigge, said none of
the roads in the neighborhood have sidewalks, and that walking and riding
bicycles is dangerous now with the traffic. Awtrey’s project, he said, would
bring more.
Plans for an applicant-neighborhood coalition to monitor noise,
traffic and other issues associated with the project were questioned, as
well.
“Who will monitor the traffic?” asked Prigge, a candidate for County
Council. He also asked if the public will be served, or just the applicant, by
having a commercial use approved in a rural area.
As several homes are
located on Awtrey’s property, the Kahuna Springs project will take away rental
housing from locals and others who chose to live here, Prigge said.
John
Schlegel, who plans to grow taro on the property, said the project will mean
job creation, diversified agriculture opportunities, and possibly work for some
of the Amfac Sugar Kaua’i employees who have lost or are about to lose their
jobs due to a plant shutdown.
The wetland taro will be a habitat for
endangered water birds, the farming portion of the project could create
opportunities for young farmers, and parking won’t be a problem on the 27-acre
parcel, he said.
“I don’t see a big impact,” said Schlegel, who likened
Ahiahi Road to Rice Street in Lihu’e in terms of traffic volumes.
“As far
as these conditions go, I think they’re a bunch of baloney,” said Bert Lemke,
who lives within 200 feet of the proposed retreat. “I like my peace and quiet.
“How would you like to have it next to your home? Nobody up there wants it. The
only people who want it are those who work there.”
Susan Karstenson, a
Kahuna Road resident, questioned why the commission could even consider
approving the project with conditions that are unenforceable.
“It’s already
an incredible problem up there,” she said of traffic. “If I had my way, we’d
have speed bumps up there.”
Dogs, cats and ducks get run over all the time
along Kahuna, said Karstenson, who also expressed concern about water and sewer
issues.
Laurel Baldridge, another Kahuna Road resident, claimed if Awtry’s
project is approved, bed-and-breakfast operations, wedding services and banquet
businesses will also want to operate in the area, which Baldridge said is not
the right place for such uses.
Walt Barnes, speaking for the project, said
the transportation, farming and cooking conditions attached to the initial
Planning Department recommendation of approval of the project are too rigorous,
as are the two-year drop-dead clause and neighborhood monitoring
program.
Barnes said traffic is a non-issue, as traffic speed (an
enforcement issue) versus traffic density is really the problem.
The bigger
issue is that a way of life is threatened, but it’s changes going on in the
world, not the project, that is threatening this rural way of life, Barnes
said.
Bill Peay, executive director of the West Kaua’i Community
Development Corporation and a proponent of alternative visitor accommodations
and the healing arts, said change is coming. The Kaua’i General Plan update is
the perfect discussion of retreats and other alternative visitor
accommodations, “under carefully managed control,” he added.
Resident
Jackie Rodrigues said nobody can monitor the conditions, and allowing a
commercial use in an agricultural, rural neighborhood will lead to other
commercial uses.
“I agree (with the concept), but this is not the place.
We don’t want no commercial. We all fought to keep that land open,” Rodrigues
said.
Trisha Lei Sears questioned how the commission could approve the
project when “99.5 percent” of the neighbors are against it.
Baldwin
reminded her that, according to state Land Use Commission agricultural land
ratings, the property is not considered prime agricultural land.
“We are
the neighbors that are going to be affected by that project,” said Baird, who
is willing to welcome Awtrey as a residential neighbor, but not as a commercial
retreat operator.
Colete Bryce, who is training for the New York City
Marathon and runs along Kahuna Road, said some change is good, but this change
would be bad.
She implored the commissioners to look at who will benefit,
and who will be inconvenienced, by approval of this project.
Joe Munechika,
former member of the County Council and brother of Awtrey, said he has no
financial interest in the project, but wanted to support his sister.
He
said the conditions attached to the approval and other concessions show Awtrey
is willing to work with her neighbors. Munechika also said the use of shuttle
vans for guests and other uses will help alleviate traffic concerns.
“Not
everyone is opposed to the project,” Awtrey said, adding some who signed
petitions against the project changed their minds after she explained the
project to them.
Still, she admitted she was having her doubts about her
own ability to work with people whose minds are already made up against the
project. But she is willing to try, she added.
“Whatever you decide is
going to be perfectly OK,” she told the commission.
She’ll continue working
with her neighbors, Awtrey said.
“I’m trying to get the neighbors to
reason through the issues” and come up with solutions, she said.
Staff
Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext.
224).