With reference to the guest commentary The Garden Island printed July 17, I offer my comments regarding the proposed Hanalei Plantation Resort project. I have been lucky to be one of those invited to learn about this proposed project, starting
With reference to the guest commentary The Garden Island printed July 17, I offer my comments regarding the proposed Hanalei Plantation Resort project.
I have been lucky to be one of those invited to learn about this proposed project, starting way back when “Cultural Surveys of Hawai‘i” contacted me about some of the archeological history of the ancient Pua Poa Marsh stone wall. Hallett H. Hammatt, Ph.D., president and principal investigator, had asked me for an interview.
That was the beginning of my opportunity to learn of the proposed “cultural” development. Part of my own Hanalei “culture” dates back to 1934-41, as a young lad who spent every summer at our Fayé family beach house that my grandfather built in 1916. World War II interrupted Hanalei summers until 1945, when Hanalei came back on my summer agendas.
I have watched the growth of Hanalei with some trepidation. At least the Historical Hanalei Bridge has served as a barrier to big hotel development and huge tour buses north and west of the bridge.
The advent of the original Hanalei Plantation in the 1960s was met with many happy residents and guests of the North Shore, which also meant some very good jobs for the community.
Club Med was barely tolerated. Princeville Hotel came later as an “eyesore,” but was built on split levels and over time, with landscaping, has become accepted. Don’t forget community jobs!
There was a period from 1979 to the mid-1980s, when Mr. Bruce Stark began a disastrous-looking concrete jungle of “condos” on Kauakahiunu Ridge, that later tried to be morphed into a wannabe hotel that finally died from lack of money. The ugly remnants of Stark’s concrete jungle are still on the site of the original Hanalei Plantation. Thus, over some 22 years, rows of ironwood trees have grown and taken over, so this has become an attractive view from Hanalei Bay. Wouldn’t it be nice to just have trees!
The reality of life is that the whole Kauakahiunu Ridge is of major value to an owner. Any owner. What if another Bruce Stark type were to build a monster hotel on the ridge? No.
Instead, the community is dealing with a philanthropist, Mr. Pierre Omidyar, who wants a development that will fit into the Hanalei Bay scenery, and provide a cultural experience not found elsewhere in Hawai‘i.
Further, the total land area is zoned for up to some 400-plus units. A mega-hotel? The planned development is a total of only 120 units, of which 34 are single-family homes and 86 are hotel units.
As I see it, this will be a CPR project, wherein there will be very strict covenants on the architectural design, landscaping and use of the 34 single-family “ridge” homes.
The hotel cottage portion will be of a very special style with unique cultural factors to be experienced by guests. Remember, the owner appears well-funded, with the ability to build a resort of phenomenal cost and value.
In closing, I am part of a family in the business of operating unique seaside cottages where the attraction for guests is a culturally unique setting, as would be the hotel portion of the proposed Hanalei Plantation Resort. Waimea Plantation Cottages is very much like this planned resort. There will be community jobs and satisfaction that there will never be an ugly monster hotel on the Kauakahiunu Ridge.
• Alan Fayé is a Hanalei resident.
