HANAPEPE — As far as the president of the Hanapepe Economic Alliance is concerned, Port Allen Airport (Burns Field) should be closed and the land given back to Native Hawaiians. And, said Dr. Lewis S. Shortridge, many Hanapepe residents agree
HANAPEPE — As far as the president of the Hanapepe Economic Alliance is concerned, Port Allen Airport (Burns Field) should be closed and the land given back to Native Hawaiians.
And, said Dr. Lewis S. Shortridge, many Hanapepe residents agree with him.
“Most of the people on the Westside would like to see the Hawaiians have that area, have Burns Field torn up totally, and put back into a Hawaiian cultural center, something that has educational value and retains history,” Shortridge said.
“It’s where they belong. It’s their area.” The state Department of Transportation Airports Division (DOT-A) is moving forward with a plan to allow hangars and parking areas for both helicopters and fixed-wing airplanes at Port Allen Airport, a plan the Economic Alliance opposes.
Shortridge said the Alliance supports use of the airport only for police and fire training, emergency search-and-rescue, drug enforcement activities, and limited commercial ultra-light use.
It doesn’t support commercial helicopter activity at the facility.
“This is another one of those deals, you know, where the politicians and special interests get together, and they do a job on the community, and we’re just not going to stand for it,” he said.
The Alliance under its charter isn’t allowed to enter into lawsuits, but it supports the one filed by Wilma Holi and others through the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation which questions the validity of the results of the environmental assessment DOT-A undertook regarding the expansion plan, he said.
DOT-A has filed an application with the Kaua’i Planning Department, requesting permits necessary for the expansion.
If the matter comes before the Planning Commission, the Alliance, Shortridge said, is prepared to actively oppose the granting of a Special Management Area use permit for the proposed expansion.
They’ll request intervener status and a contested case hearing before the commission.
“In order to make a win-win situation out of this, everyone has to be sensitive to intelligent growth, intelligent planning. We already have facilities in place in Lihu’e for helicopters that could be expanded along with the airport expansion project,” Shortridge said.
“It’s very logical. As far as we’re concerned, we’d like to see the helicopters go away totally,” he said. “This is the garden island.
This is the last refuge.” While the Alliance is concerned with economic revitalization, its members also are concerned about maintaining Hanapepe’s history, its rural, small-town flavor and ambiance, Shortridge said.
“The community is very much afraid of progress doing a job on them,” he said.
“Certainly we want to have a viable economy, but not at the cost of the quality of life that is so unique here.” At an earlier community meeting, the Alliance noted that 75 percent of those at the meeting were against the planned expansion, and 25 percent in favor.
“The only people who were really for it were those that had some play in it, as far as financial gain,” Shortridge said.
Earlier this month, members of the Alliance mobilized again against the project.
“I’ve been getting phone calls until 2 o’clock this morning (Wednesday) from people, irate, saying, ‘How come this is a done deal when we got up there and told them we didn’t want it, and now they’re going to shove it down our throats,'” he said.
“The community is getting the shaft with this deal,” said Shortridge, owner of Kaua’i Village Gallery on Hanapepe Road.
He holds a doctorate degree in thermodynamics (the science of heat transfer), and worked at the Barking Sands U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility in the Pathfinder long-range, solar-powered aircraft project.
A painter before he was an engineer, Shortridge offers space in his gallery for his and his wife’s works, as well as around 25 other local artists and crafts people.
