NAWILIWILI — An agreement signed last week between Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. and a private developer conveyed 138 acres of ocean-front property to the county, which prompted some community members to question what was given up in exchange for the land.
The answer lays on the other side of Lihu‘e Airport runway, and it goes back several years.
Before Hurricane ‘Iniki hit the Garden Isle on Sept. 11, 1992, Kaua‘i Lagoons had a golf course and a “wildlife refugee for animals that were allowed to be the tropical influence on the property,” Kaua‘i County Councilman Jay Furfaro said. Such animals included emus, nene, flamingoes, ostriches, llamas and kangaroos.
Down the hill from the Lagoons, the luxury Westin Resort operated.
“The property itself was 800 acres, the man-made lagoons were 40 acres,” Councilman Dickie Chang said.
The Westin had 841 rooms, and the area above Running Waters, by the golf course, was already approved for an additional 752 rooms, according to Chang.
Chang said there were plans to link the whole property through horse-drawn carriages and canoes resembling gondolas.
But then ‘Iniki hit Kaua‘i and the Westin shut down. The Marriott corporation eventually bought the Westin, opening up the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort and Beach Club in June 1995.
The Marriott converted the beach-front tower into time-share units, breaking down walls to enlarge the rooms, turning them into kitchenettes. The rooms became larger, but the Marriott lost about 253 rooms in the conversion.
The Marriott now has 588 units, comprising 356 hotel rooms and 232 time-share units.
A different corporation acquired the golf course, and wanted to realign it, adding more oceanfront space to it, Furfaro said.
Furfaro, who was a member of the county Planning Commission at that time, said in the negotiations the golf course developer agreed to drop the allowed density of the whole property to 1,000 units. Before ‘Iniki, the combined allowed density was 1,593.
The allowable density dropped, but the number of units in the Marriott also dropped. The net result is that the new developer is now allowed to build roughly 400 units by Kaua‘i Lagoons, according to Furfaro.
Furthermore, the new developer agreed to build the Courtyards at Waipouli, which has 81 affordable rental units, plus the 31-unit Kamamalu affordable-ownership project near Lihu‘e Industrial Phase II.
In the bulk of the negotiations, the developer agreed to donate the 138-acre strip of land on the east of the Lihu‘e Airport runway. In addition, the 28-unit building rights allowed on that land got transferred to the Kaua‘i Lagoons development.
Lawa‘i resident John Hoff said in an e-mail last week that his research at the Planning Department revealed that the county will lose $582,200 in tax assessment value, and a lot more in potential added value dollar amounts if the land would be developed. This figure could not be confirmed by press time.
The land given to the county at one point was supposed to be developed as an upscale golf course, according to County Clerk Peter Nakamura.
Chang, however, said the location wasn’t suitable for a golf course because of the constant hovering of helicopters and airplane landings and takeoffs. “If they built a golf course it wouldn’t be successful,” he said.
Despite the potential loss of tax revenues, Bynum said the right of public use in perpetuity was a much better trade-off.
Bynum also said the right to build 28 high-end luxury homes in the property got transferred as condos to the development at Kaua‘i Lagoons.
“In the overall scope of the project, this wasn’t a money-maker for them,” Councilman Tim Bynum said of the developer.
Eventually the shared use path will go through the property, and now it will be easier to build it when the time comes, said Bynum.
“The County of Kaua‘i does not have a lot of ocean-front park space,” Furfaro said. “This is also an excellent fishing area.”
Bynum said he had some questions about security, but the runway is fenced in and patrolled, a much different scenario than years ago, when he would park on the runway, bringing along his children and plate lunches, just to watch the airplanes land.
“My kids loved to wave at the tourists,” Bynum said.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@kauaipubco.com.
