South Kaua‘i residents urged two top Kaua‘i County officials last night to address the issues of affordable housing and traffic congestion tied to a new resort and residential projects planned on the South Shore.
At a meeting of the Poipu Beach Resort Association held at the Lawai Beach Resort, Kaua‘i County planning director Ian Costa and Keith Nitta, a senior planner with the county’s planning department, said partnerships between government and developers and the updating of land use plans could help bring about solutions and lead to good planning.
The county officials spoke before some 50 members of the resort destination group, which is led by executive director Margy Parker.
Ron Farkas, a Koloa Estates resident who was accompanied by his wife, Selma, said the need to build housing that Kauaians can afford is at the level of a crisis.
He said government officials need to work with a developer or developers to build a mobile home community on conservation land on Kaua‘i.
Such projects can go up quickly and at a low cost, Farkas said. In Mainland communities, people can buy units for $50,000 and pay rent for land to put their homes on, he said.
But Farkas said such projects may never materialize on Kaua‘i because Kaua‘i County, in his opinion, has a reputation of being “anti-development.”
“Developers are bled dry with demands (building conditions imposed by the government),” Farkas said.
One female audience member wondered where employees will live when residential and resort projects in Po‘ipu are approved by government and are built.
Costa said a county policy exists that requires 15 percent of a development be set aside for affordable housing, and hopes the policy will be amended to benefit resort and residential development employees.
A residential, commercial and resort project Kukui‘Üla Development Co. Hawaii has proposed at Kukui‘ula on the coast near Koloa town is currently zoned for more than 3,000 residential units, and company leaders are now asking for a zoning amendment calling for only 1,500 residential units, Costa said.
The downzoning requests amounts to just under 30 percent, and “that is as good as we have seen from a developer,” said Costa in commending Kukui‘Ula leaders for their commitment to building affordable housing.
Costa also indicated a partial solution to the issue of affordable housing may rest with updating 20-year-old land use plans for communities on Kaua‘i.
Costa vowed to work aggressively to get the funding from the Kaua‘i County Council to upgrade those plans so that smart planning occurs. The plan for Koloa is up and coming, Costa added.
Carol Furtado, an executive with the Marriott Waiohai Beach Club, said leaders of the Kuikui‘Ula Development Co. Hawaii have done an “excellent job” in informing the community about their project.
But she said she had concerns Po‘ipu Road could be overwhelmed by traffic once other resort or residential projects along that road are developed.
Costa said Ho‘onani Road was once the main in Po‘ipu, and that “Po‘ipu Road was built for zoning” in that area.
Former Mayor Maryanne Kusaka, who attended the meeting, wondered about the status of a resort development proposal by Starwood for a multiunit project planned behind the Sheraton Kauai Resort in Po‘ipu.
Costa said no plans have been submitted for that project. He also gave a summary of existing projects and future projects planned for South Kaua‘i.
He noted:
- Kiahuna Partners and Knudsen Trust have tentative subdivision approval for a 106-lot project and a 50-lot project, respectively;
- Kukui‘Ula Development is proposing a 1,500-unit project at Kukiu‘ula, which includes a 64-room hotel and 120 or so time-share units;
The Lawai Road Action Committee support the project, but say the Kaua‘i County Council should not approve the rezoning of the project until traffic concerns are met.
The committee has cautioned that the additional traffic from the project, if and when approved, will make driving conditions more dangerous on Lawai Road, and will create even more traffic congestion in South Kaua‘i.
But leaders for the development said they are cognizant of the traffic problems, and have posed several solutions.
Leaders of Kukui‘Ula have reached an agreement with county officials to develop a main road through the project that would connect with a proposed western bypass road, and to create roundabouts at the intersection of Lawai Road and Po‘ipu Road.
Kukui‘Ula leaders also have agreed to design a road for the northern leg of the western bypass road, and to acquire the land for the project. The northern leg would connect with Maluhia Road.
- Lawai Beach Resort has zoning permits for a 1,000-square-foot snack shop; Kiahuna Tennis Club has a zoning permits for a 2,600-square-foot restaurant with outdoor seating and zoning permits have been granted for the second phase of the Kiahuna Shopping Center, consisting of 62,000 square feet.
- No approval has been granted for a proposal by Mike Thompson, Regency LLC for a 323 multi-family project behind the Poipu Kapili. No time-share units are planned for the project proposed by Thompson.
- No approval has been granted for the proposed renovation of 121 units at the Poipu Beach Hotel.
- No approval has been granted for proposed improvements at the Poipu Beach Park.
- No approval has been granted for plans by Dr. Michael Murray to upgrade a corner lot in Koloa town for an office.
- No approval has been granted for a proposal by the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative for a new transformer on Alexander & Baldwin property west of Lawai Valley for Kukui‘Ula’s proposed project.
- No approval has been granted for the realignment and widening of Maluhia Road.
Nitta said government officials and private developers must forge partnerships to build infrastructure wisely and a reasonable cost.
Nitta said land models and the concept that the visitor industry has become Kaua‘i’s leading economic engine are major parts of the county’s general plan, which guides land uses on Kaua‘i.
In the 1990s, the state Department of Transportation used an analysis on growth on Kaua‘i done by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
From that information, DOT officials projected a population of 85,000 by 2020, setting in place a requirement that 48,000 Kauaians be employed, Nitta said.
He said county officials projected 12,000 visitor units would be developed by 2020. Today there exists between 6,000 and 7,000 units.
County planners used the numbers as a rationale to develop resorts, build roads and create business throughout Kaua‘i so that every community could be economically-self sufficient and self-sustaining, Nitta said.
All the growth data also has helped the county tap into federal funds to build much-needed infrastructure on the island, including roads, Nitta said.
