LIHU’E — It is Thomas Michael Gough’s dream to own a home and a business—and he wants to combine both under one roof. He presented his dream to the county Planning Commission last week during a public hearing. His application
LIHU’E — It is Thomas Michael Gough’s dream to own a home and a
business—and he wants to combine both under one roof.
He presented his
dream to the county Planning Commission last week during a public hearing. His
application for permits to convert an existing residence in Kapa’a into his
home and office drew mixed response.
Gough wants to move his business,
Dive Kauai Scuba Center, about five doors down Kuhio Highway from the corner
of Keaka Road to the corner of Makaha Road, and needs a use permit and class
IV zoning permit as the proposed use is not generally allowed in a
residential district.
Dive Kauai is currently located in the Old Wailua
Clubhouse.
Other homes along this stretch of Kuhio Highway have been given
use permits to convert residences to commercial uses, including most recently
the Vision Properties office of Planning Commissioner Ed MacDowell.
Makaha
Road residents and others who live between the highway and the ocean gave
verbal and written objections to the proposal, citing increased traffic
concerns (especially since Makaha Road is only about 12 feet wide), increased
noise, and other considerations.
“Such activity is more than a retail
presence; it is a light-industrial environment,” wrote Charles and Susan
Hoerner.
“There are trucks and vans and equipment and activity which is
unattractive and very unlikely to improve the property values of the
neighborhood,” they wrote.
“I have been a diver for years and am familiar
with the Dive Kauai Scuba Center as well as others on the island. I would not
like to have any of them as neighbors,” Charles Hoerner submitted.
In his
permit application, Gough and agent Tom Summers said they have been unable to
find suitable commercial buildings along the highway that could be used by
Dive Kauai Scuba. But competitor Marvin Otsuji of Seasport Divers said he
plans to open a dive shop in the Kapa’a area and found several commercial
buildings fitting his needs.
Makaha Road resident Karen Gibbons said
Gough’s application “saddens” her, adding she has concerns about additional
noise and traffic along Makaha Road.
Alan Packer, also a Makaha Road
resident, said the Commission lacks credibility in his neighborhood. He said he
feels the commissioners ignored a petition submitted by Makaha Road residents
opposing the Vision Properties use, and that they will similarly ignore
traffic concerns and approve the Dive Kauai application.
Buddy Peters,
born and raised in Kapa’a, recalled a time when only Leonard’s Chevron was a
commercial use along the highway.
At first, he said, he didn’t like the
idea of commercial uses along the highway on the Wailua side of the Kapaa
Shopping Center. Now, he favors Gough’s application.
“I only see it as
business. Give him some consideration,” Peters told the
Commission.
Summers argued that Gough, who is in the process of purchasing
the property, could legally tear down the house and garage and erect a
two-story, 30-foot-high building with four or five apartments. His client
should be applauded for preserving the 1920s architecture of the home, he
said.
The property is zoned R-20 (residential), and Summers earlier told
county Planning Director Dee Crowell that the entire area along the highway
should be made industrial and commercial instead of spot-zoning commercial
uses in the residential area.
That’s exactly what will happen if the
Kaua’i General Plan Discussion Draft is ratified as written.
Currently
listed as urban mixed use in the General Plan, the area is proposed for town
center and urban center designations (which would allow this type of use) in
the Discussion Draft.
A vote on the matter could come as early as the
Commission’s Thursday, March 9, meeting.
In other public hearings, the
commission learned groundbreaking could take place as early as this summer on
the county Offices of Community Assistance transportation agency office and
bus maintenance facility near the Kauai Veterans Center and Vidinha
Stadium.
The facility will eventually be part of the new police station,
Civil Defense emergency operating center and office of the prosecuting
attorney to be located on 10 acres of land off Kapule Highway.
Gini
Kapali, director of the county Office of Economic Development, said the
elderly and disabled will use the facility to pick up bus and paratransit
passes, and the new site will allow the county to enhance services to the
public and the elderly.
Improvements to the overall parcel include a
two-story, 58,000-square-foot main police station and emergency operating
center building, and a one-story, 9,400-square-foot prosecuting attorney
building, along with parking, site grading, landscaping, employee access, and
the two-acre bus maintenance facility, to include spaces for parking 32 buses,
15 employee vehicles, and eight public vehicles.
Funding for the bus
maintenance facility comes primarily from the Federal Transportation
Agency.
Cheryl Lovell-Obatake and Stan Sekimoto, Lihue Airport
administrator for the state Department of Transportation Airports Division,
expressed concerns about storm runoff and draining issues.
“The drainage
issue has been a challenge for us,” said Doug Haigh. Through careful planning,
he is confident that all drainage will be handled within the
property.
Sekimoto and Steve Kyono, district engineer with the state DOT
Highways Division, want the traffic issue addressed at the soon-to-be-built
Kaana Street intersection with Kapule Highway.
“Without traffic signals at
the intersection, it will be difficult for motorists to enter/exit Kaana
Street from Kapule Highway,” Kyono wrote.
“Traffic conditions at the
intersection will worsen when the new (state) Judiciary Building is put in
service. Without traffic signals, intersection conditions will be similar to
what currently exists at the Kapule Highway/Haoa Street intersection” at the
stadium, Kyono said.
