The need for more affordable housing and development of roads to ease traffic congestion in Koloa and Po’ipu dominated the county Planning Commission’s hearing Tuesday on Kukui’ula Development Co.’s proposed 1,002-acre resort/ residential project in Po’ipu. At the same time,
The need for more affordable housing and development of roads to ease traffic congestion in Koloa and Po’ipu dominated the county Planning Commission’s hearing Tuesday on Kukui’ula Development Co.’s proposed 1,002-acre resort/ residential project in Po’ipu.
At the same time, audience members praised the developers for working with the community in developing the project, including providing land for a park by Kukui’ula Harbor in Po’ipu and addressing the need for another school.
Residents voiced their concerns at an afternoon public hearing held at the Lihu’e Civic Center.
Having Kukui’ula Development Co. develop more affordable housing for the local market was foremost on the mind of Kaua’i real estate agent Melinda Yomen.
“I am not against the developer, but what I am concerned about is the affordable housing this property will not give to the local residents,” she said.
She said she was grateful Alexander & Baldwin had developed homes in ‘Ele’ele Nani I and II in ‘Ele’ele when the company had plans to develop the project on its own in the past.
“But this is not enough for local residents who actually want to stay in Koloa and Po’ipu,” Yomen said.
But commissioner Theodore Daligdig III said it was his impression the developers would exceed a 15 percent affordable housing requirement set by the county by donating four acres for 60 more dwelling units at the Pa’anau Village in Koloa, coupled with homes A&B develop at the first and second phase of ‘Ele’ele Nani in ‘Ele’ele.
Mathilda Yoshioka, managing director of the Kauai Economic Development Board and a former Kaua’i County housing administrator, confirmed the presumption, based on A&B’s donations and the planned land donation for affordable housing by the current developers.
Yoshioka praised A&B for having helped develop affordable housing for local folks in the past.
But Yomen urged the developers to continue to help today, in light of spiraling housing prices and the difficulty young local families or couples have had in getting into their first homes.
First-time buyers on Kaua’i can afford to pay no more than $150,000 to $200,000 for a home, Yomen said. “I can tell you that there is only one (house) in Koloa under $300,000 at this moment,” she said. “There are five offers on that one house.”
Rick Haviland, a member of the board of directors for the Poipu Beach Resort Association, said the board has concerns about the need for gap housing and employee housing, but has not taken a formal position to ask the developers to address those needs.
Related to easing traffic congestion in South Kaua’i, Haviland said the association would like the developers to “push up the time line for the completion of a western bypass as far as the Koloa Road” prior to the “occupancy” of the property by hotel operators, homeowners and business folks.
Haviland also said the association would like to see the completion of a “northern connector road”, which would run between Koloa Road and Maluhia Road before “occupancy” at the property.
The association would like the developers to complete a design for the road and to secure a right-of-way over it as a way to possibly tap federal funds for road and a bridge of about 400 feet over parts of the road, Haviland said. State or county funds will be necessary to complete that road though, he indicated.
Completion of these road requirements should significantly help alleviate traffic congestion in South Kaua’i, Haviland said.
Others at the meeting voiced concerns the developers could possibly use Lawai Road for the construction of the project.
But commission chairwoman Sandi Kato-Klutke said the developers have already pledged to use that road only in an emergency and that they plan to build another road on the property to accommodate construction.
In voicing concerns about the project, Louis Abrams, vice president and land use chairman of the Koloa Community Association, said his group met with representatives from the development company on Nov. 11 to go over the group’s concerns.
In a statement sent to the commission, Abrams noted the developers acknowledged making a mistake in ignoring an ordinance requirements related to a boat ramp and expanded park use at the planned park by Kukui’ula Harbor.
The board of the Koloa Community Association also feels that the northern connector road needs to be a condition of any approval, and is opposed to any school site being zoned commercial, Abrams added.
Commissioner Michael Cockett said he had concerns about the potential impact the development of the golf course might have on surrounding areas.
Michael Roberts, vice president of DMB and Kukui’ula Development Co.,, said that best management practices would be employed for the golf course project.
But Cockett wondered what that meant. “At the front end, it sounds really good, ‘oh, we are going to use best management practices.’ At the tail end of it, with the reef all dead 100 years from now, it’s too late,” he said.
Roberts said a computer-operated sprinkler system will ensure the golf course will not be overwatered and that there will not be overfertilization.
Daligdig recommended organic fertilizer be used over synthetic fertilizer as the former would apparently have less environmental impact.
Roberts said he was not sure which type of fertilizer would be used, but assured the commission the operation of the golf course would not adversely affect surrounding lands.
On the subject of the developers donating land for a school or donating money instead, Daligdig said he doesn’t want to see a scenario in which the money donation could be held up by the state Department of Education for up to 50 years, and not be used in a reasonable amount of time to benefit children in South Kaua’i.
Margy Parker, Executive Director of the Poipu Beach Resort Association, said that issue needs clarification, adding “That is why we feel it deserves a lot more discussion, because we share the same questions.”
“I suppose the choice would be whichever resulted in Koloa School being able to handle the students and being able to educate them in high standards,” she said.
Subsidiaries of Alexander & Baldwin and DMB Associates Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz. formed Kukuiula Development Co. (Hawaii) to develop the project.
For its 1,002-acre project at Kukui’ula, Kukuiula Development is proposing to develop a maximum of 1,500 units, including a 64-room hotel, an 18-hole golf course, recreational facilities, 26 acres for commercial uses, parks and open spaces. An additional 60 affordable housing units also will be built by Po’ipu Road.
The developer also is seeking commission approval to expand a “visitor destination area,” a county designation, from 160 acres to 1002 acres to accommodate vacation rentals and time share units. The time share units will be limited to 106 core acres within the resort.
The developers are asking the commission to amend the zoning designations for the land from resort, open, commercial, agricultural, special treatment districts to residential, resort, open, commercial and special treatment districts.
The current zoning allows for a maximum of 3,400 units, an 18-hole golf course, commercial areas, and a 77-acre “resort core.”
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and lchang@pulitzer.net
