LIHU‘E — A county requirement for developers to construct a large water-storage tank to accommodate a 27-lot residential subdivision in Kapa‘a could kill any hope of affordable housing there, developers said.
Representatives of Jensen of Hawai‘i last week criticized officials of the county Department of Water for requiring them to construct a 250,000-gallon water tank for their proposed subdivision in Kapa‘a Homesteads.
The developers contend the requirement, or an alternative to drill wells, would prevent them from building homes at affordable prices at a time of skyrocketing house prices especially on the North Shore and South Shore.
That market activity, subsequently, affects home prices elsewhere on Kaua‘i, making it difficult for local buyers to get into homes, county officials have said.
The issue of the water-tank requirement came up during a meeting of the Kaua‘i County Council Planning Committee at the historic County Building on Thursday.
The committee approved rezoning requests for the Kawaihau Road project, and the matter goes before the full council this Thursday, Feb. 12.
The proposed Jensen project is small when compared to resort and residential projects that are proposed or being developed elsewhere on Kaua‘i, but developers had hoped to be able to provide at least a few homes in affordable price ranges before being informed of the water-tank requirement, they said.
Council members and officials in Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste’s administration see the Jensen project as an important one that could add homes to the island’s small inventory, if developed.
Kevin Hurst, vice president of Jensen of Hawai‘i, said the project qualifies for five water meters from the county Department of Water.
Company president Chris Jensen said department officials told him the tank has to be built before the other 22 water meters will be granted.
Hurst said he has contacted other developers around the proposed project to help pay for the cost of building the 250,000-gallon tank, “but they don’t have enough money.”
“A 250,000-gallon tank is overkill for our project,” Jensen said. A tank that size could serve a community the size of Ha‘ena, and is way too much storage for their project, Hurst added. Three of the lots have been set aside for the county’s affordable-housing program.
Jensen said the price for the house-and-lot packages and a few vacant lots will only go up if developers are required to build the tank.
Water Department Manager and Chief Engineer Ed Tschupp said he wasn’t aware of the 250,000-gallon-tank requirement, adding “it is a statement they (the developers) made.
“We have told them that this is an area where there are storage constraints, and we have told them that the development of the lot is limited to five meters that have been issued against the property until adequate water-storage facilities are available,” Tschupp said.
Tschupp said he has informed council Chairman Kaipo Asing about the limitation.
“We are in the process of hiring a design consultant to design the new storage tank (for 500,000 gallons),” Tschupp said.
“It takes time for plans to be drawn up and the construction to occur. I am estimating it (the building of the tank) is four years away.”
Hurst and Jensen don’t want to wait that long.
The project is part of the DOW’s Water Plan 2020, an ongoing, $150-million plan to upgrade the island’s public water systems over the next 16 years.
The tank that could be built is located mauka of the proposed Jensen project, which is mauka of the Otsuka’s Too store off Kawaihau Road.
Tschupp said he and his staff support developers who want to build housing that would be affordable to Kaua‘i buyers, “but when there are capacity constraints, then those have to be addressed.”
Government should provide the water capacity, not wait for developers to address those needs, Hurst and Jensen complained.
The only other option they have is to drill four or five wells at the proposed project site to provide water to the planned homes, Jensen said.
Even with this less-expensive option, the cost of house-and-lot packages, which will be a majority of homes in the proposed subdivision, will be higher than initially projected, and will be passed on to buyers, Jensen and Hurst said.
The higher costs would thwart their plans to provide housing at affordable prices for Kaua‘i buyers, the men said.
The developers have targeted low- and middle-income folks for their project, they said.
During the council committee meeting, Hurst gave assurances he and his partners had no intentions of selling the project once the rezoning requests were approved by the full council.
For the eight-acre project, the council Planning Committee approved the request from Jensen Hawai‘i for a bill to amended the state Land Use District boundary.
The council committee also approved a bill to amend the Kaua‘i County code for a residential zoning designation for the project.
Last September, the Kaua‘i County Planning Commission, by a 6-0 vote, recommended rezoning the seven-acre lot from open to residential.
Kaua‘i County Planning Department planners, in supporting the project, said the developer also has to address increased traffic that would be expected to come from the project, when it is developed.
Staff Writer Lester Chang may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net.
