The Kaua’i Planning Commission has approved a zoning amendment for Grove Farm which will allow the company to finish building its 18-hole Puakea Golf Course, create an alternative traffic route between Lihu’e and Puhi, and develop additional residential houselots at Ulu Ko.
Converting the parcel containing the former plantation manager’s estate along Nawiliwili Road into a commercial area with visitor accommodations and other commercial uses also is part of this plan, which the Kaua’i County Council must still approve following a public hearing.
Don Heacock, whose property is adjacent to the proposed project, is concerned that additional residential development without state-mandated updates of the company’s drainage plan for the area will adversely impact the water quality of Puali Stream. Heacock is an aquatic biologist with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources.
Heacock argued that modifications to the development’s drainage plan are needed before the amendment is approved, not after, and that county Planning Department staff assumptions about the development’s impact on the stream are “illogical” and “wrong.”
Grove Farm will continue to monitor the quality of Puali Stream, said Michael Belles, attorney for Grove Farm.
The stream flows through Grove Farm property, meandering through many of the existing 10 holes of the Puakea Golf Course, then downstream through Heacock’s property where he grows taro and fish. It empties into Hule’ia Stream near Nawiliwili Small Boat Harbor.
“If you change land-use patterns, you will change drainage patterns,” said Heacock, who fears that the golf course will not provide enough absorption of storm runoff from the newly-urbanized areas, and that the excess will flow directly into Puali Stream.
“We intend to comply with all laws, rules and provisions,” said Belles, adding that developers face stiff fines for violations of environmental law and failure to abide by environmental rules and regulations.
“Protection of the Puali Stream ecosystem is the issue,” said Heacock, who won a small victory when one of the conditions for approval of the zoning amendment was itself amended.
Commissioner Jay Furfaro moved, and Commissioner Gary Heu seconded, to amend a standard condition requiring Grove Farm to meet all applicable conditions from state and county governmental agencies by adding the state Commission on Water Resources Management to the list of agencies.
The Commission on Water Resources Management requires minimum stream-flow rates for all streams in the state, as well as minimum quality levels, Heacock explained.
Belles and Grove Farm agreed to the amended condition even though the state Land Use Commission approvals won nearly a decade ago contain the same provision.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
