The threat of yet more Kapaa development further diminishes our quality of life.
Hokua Place will have 769 residential units on 97 acres, at a price range beyond the reach of most of us. This, of course, is along with two resorts already approved and soon to be under development in the Wailua-Kapaa corridor (Coconut Beach Resort and Coconut Plantation = 527 units), a pending resort redevelopment (Coco Palms), and a residential development on the north end of Kapaa (Kealia Mauka).
Traffic has increased dramatically over the past year. Residents of the Eastside, and those driving through on the bypass, would experience an influx of 1,500 more cars from Hokua Place.
The opportunity is now to speak up before it’s too late. Email your comments regarding Hokua Place development to the state Land Use Commission (LUC).
The developer is requesting the up-zoning of 97 acres of agricultural lands behind Kapaa Middle School to an urban center zoning. Our goal is to keep it zoned agriculture.
What can you do?
Let the state Land Use Commission know your concerns on or before the deadline of Dec. 24 (yes, Christmas Eve).
Please send this notice to all of your social media contacts — through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram — and email to all your lists right away to do the same.
Get your friends and family to email their concerns to the Land Use Commission at: dbedt.luc.web@hawaii.gov.
Watch for further emails announcing the meeting of the Land Use Commission on this issue on Kauai in 2019, and show your concern by showing up.
Here’s what you should know about Hokua Place:
w Stuck in traffic: Buried in the second Draft Environmental Impact Statement and by their own admission, Hokua Place will generate a total of approximately 1,900 vehicle trips per hour during morning and afternoon rush hours combined. Traffic now is bumper-to-bumper from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
w Our aging and insufficient infrastructure: The 769 additional units Hokua Place is adding to the market will only create further impacts on our failing infrastructure (water supply, road surfaces, sewage, school capacity).
w How can Hokua Place be touted as meeting our affordable housing needs: Only 30 percent of units are required to be affordable; the others are “subject to market conditions,” which means the developer can increase current prices.
w Single family homes from $650,000 to $950,00: Where is the affordability?
w Food security in a time of uncertainty: Conservation of agriculture lands should be a priority, not urban sprawl.
w Hokua Place and the myth of a sustainable development: Give us a model of sustainability with some substance.
Our bottom-line recommendation to the Land Use Commission:
We are recommending Alternative 1, the No Action Alternative from the second Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Under this alternative, no action will be taken and the project area would remain zoned agriculture. Hokua Place would not be built. The land would remain in the state land use Agricultural District.
Kauai has reached a tipping point and we must act now to preserve our reefs, beaches, forests, streams and rural lifestyle. Let’s kokua Kauai before it’s too late!
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Gabriela Taylor is a resident of Kapaa.
