Residents attend Waimea 400 talk story

WAIMEA — Residents voiced their concerns and desires for what happens with over 400 acres of land situated between Waimea and Kekaha on Wednesday at a Waimea 400 talk story.

Many of the 11 residents who came out Wednesday have been working together to educate and lead discussions on the Waimea 400 master plan, attending meetings and disseminating the information out to those without access to Zoom meetings.

This was the first face-to-face meeting the county has been able to offer on the plan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The county currently has three different conceptual plans, one that maintains the ditches, one that excavates the fill, and one that restores the natural waterways for this 417-acre parcel.

All the different plans incorporate housing, an active park, primary agriculture, processing and shooting range with a pedestrian multi-use path through the land.

But the conceptual designs are more-or-less wishlists of plans. Wednesday, residents discussed that without a foundation and infrastructure or how this project will be funded, the plan is just another promise that may not be fulfilled.

“This is a really good thing and has the potential to be a really good thing, but there are a lot of factors that aren’t in any of the Zooms or any of the project meetings,” Josh Mori, a track coach at Waimea High School, said. “There are choke things happening with tourism coming back, with gentrification happening … I feel like a lot of those sentiments get caught up in all of our meetings because those get passed over.”

Mori said the plan should also include more understanding about how the past can shape the future.

“I’m not only worried about myself, but my ‘ohana, how we’re gonna afford housing, you know?” Moir said.

A master plan is a blueprint or guide, the county will need to seek approval from the County Council, receive an environmental review and more before it is in a place to physically do anything to the land. The Waimea 400 is being designed in part with the county’s Planning Department and PBR Hawai‘i.

Currently, the land is being cleared of overgrowth and leased for agricultural use to develop and store road construction material.

Waimea 400 project manager and meeting facilitator Lea Kai‘aokamalie said this is an opportunity for discussion, listening and bringing new ideas to the table.

“The county has never purchased a property like this,” Kai‘aokamalie said. “It really is there for the community to provide your input on.”

When the county purchased the land from Kikiaola Land Company in 2019, the company stipulated that a portion of the property be designated for affordable housing. Only about 40 acres of the land area is suitable for housing, in the eastern quadrant.

In a two-month-long initial survey, residents were asked to prioritize what they wanted to see on the land. Residents voted to see housing, a sports complex, paths, a community garden and room for farming.

Ka‘ua Mata said that because the county had already established there’d be housing developed on the site, asking residents what they prioritized was skewed. Mata said she’d like to see transitional housing, included in the plan.

The West Side Community Plan, which wrapped up last year, has already designated this area as a walkable neighborhood for mixed-use residential development, and the rest of the parcel has been designated for park use, including recreation or gardens.

Wednesday’s event was hosted at the Waimea Public Library was made possible through a national grant from the American Library Association.

“It’s called Libraries Transforming Communities, and the idea is to get libraries to become gathering places for the community to talk about issues that matter,” branch manager Michelle Young said. When applying for the grant, Young said the Waimea 400 presented itself as a meaningful topic of conversation.

The deadline to make comments or provide feedback on the three conceptual master plan alternatives is June 30, and can be submitted at waimea400.com.

The goal is to get the final master plan out by the end of the summer.

“I know we want it fast, but we want it right,” Leona Chandler said during the meeting.