LIHUE — Changes may be coming soon to Poipu.
A Kauai County committee has given its stamp of approval on a preliminary plan to build a private subdivision on a vacant Makahuena Point lot between two condominium projects and provide shoreline access to the public.
The proposal, envisioned by property owners Anchorage, Alaska-based corporation Cook Inlet Region Inc., calls for the construction of 10 one-acre, single-family homes on a 14-acre lot wedged between the Point at Poipu and the Point and Makahuena.
This development, CIRI representatives said, would also include a private access road from Pee Road and a paved public parking area near the intersection of Pee and Oluolu Roads, leading to a shoreline access trail running along the subdivision’s periphery.
“By de facto, nobody is going to be restricted from the shoreline,” said Tom Schnell, senior associate and planner at Honolulu-based planning firm PBR Hawaii and Associates, Inc.
CIRI, a for-profit corporation to benefit Alaska Natives with ties to the Cook Inlet region, purchased the 14-acre, former U.S. Coast Guard LORAN site from the federal government in 1996.
The Makahuena property, once owned by William Bacle of Koloa, was conveyed to the United States government in 1907 and subdivided in 1932 into more than 25 legally recognized lots before the county’s comprehensive zoning ordinance was adopted.
William Prosser, a CIRI consultant, said preliminary plans call for the 25 lots to be consolidated and then subdivided into 10 one-acre parcels that will be either sold to individual landowners or to a developer to construct the homes.
A .65-acre open space area, adjacent to a U.S. Coast Guard-owned navigation beam, is currently aside in development plans for public use.
Schnell said his firm is preparing an application for a special management area use permit and shoreline setback determination with the county’s Planning Department.
A visual and view plane analysis, he said, will also be conducted to determine where the homes should be placed on their respective lots and what effect the development may have on the scenic views from nearby properties.
Those homes, according to CIRI’s tentative plans, must be no larger than 4,000 square feet to comply with the county’s building requirements and will be limited to two stories and a maximum height of 30 feet.
“We’re not playing poker here unless we turn all of our cards up, so that’s the way CIRI’s philosophy has been throughout the states and we found it to be successful,” Prosser said.
