‘ELE’ELE — The 190-page Kaua’i General Plan Discussion Draft contains a page and-a-half of information on Native Hawaiian rights. Some people — Native Hawaiians and others — feel that is 1.5 pages too much, that nothing should be included in
‘ELE’ELE — The 190-page Kaua’i General Plan Discussion Draft contains a page
and-a-half of information on Native Hawaiian rights.
Some people — Native
Hawaiians and others — feel that is 1.5 pages too much, that nothing should be
included in the county General Plan about sovereignty or Native Hawaiian
rights.
Others feel that any discussion about land-use issues on the island
should begin and end with the Native Hawaiians.
Attorney Warren C.R. Perry,
a Native Hawaiian, is one who falls into the latter category.
“This is our
house. Any guests should check in with the hosts,” Perry said during a meeting
to talk about the Kaua’i General Plan Discussion Draft at ‘Ele’ele School
cafeteria Wednesday night.
Judy Naumu Stewart, a Native Hawaiian and member
of the Citizens Advisory Committee formulating the new General Plan to guide
land-use decisions for the island through the year 2020, feels the 1.5 pages on
Native Hawaiian rights should be taken out of the plan.
Leave it up to the
Native Hawaiians to determine Native Hawaiian rights, she said. She also felt
planners didn’t listen to the will of the people at an earlier meeting at the
Waimea Neighborhood Center, when Westsiders said they were against development
west of the Waimea River.
The people said “no growth, but you guys didn’t
listen,” she said of the plan’s draft land-use maps which show resort and
residential development planned for Waimea town by Kikiaola Land
Company.
Further, she said the General Plan won’t be worth the paper it’s
printed on once sovereignty becomes a reality. “The Hawaiians have never lost
our kingdom. Why follow the white man’s law?” she asked.
The meeting, held
in the Westside planning district which includes land from Wahiawa and Numila
to Polihale and includes Koke’e, focused, naturally, on development plans and
concerns for that area.
The need for preservation of the Salt Pond area for
recreational uses was expressed nearly unanimously by the 40 people in
attendance.
Hanapepe artist and gallery owner Arius Hopman has obtained
hundreds of Kauaians’ signatures on a petition supporting greater access and no
development in the Salt Pond area.
He and others were surprised to hear
that the state Department of Transportation Airports Division has already
applied for permits necessary to construct permanent helicopter and fixed-wing
aircraft landing pads and associated buildings at Port Allen Airport (also
known as Burns Field).
County Planning Director Dee Crowell said permits
for the airport expansion will be acted upon before the General Plan becomes
law.
“The permitting processes are going to happen within the next three
months, and the General Plan will be adopted this year if we’re lucky,” Crowell
said.
One Westside resident suggested moving aircraft operations from Burns
Field to Mana, that the area near Salt Pond Beach Park and the ancient salt
ponds be preserved for park use and open space, not aviation.
A purple
(transportation) designation on proposed General Plan land-use maps may send a
signal to the DOT that the community supports airport use, when it doesn’t, she
said.
Hopman also questioned the county’s proposal to change the “open”
zoning designation to “resource,” feeling that “preservation” was a more
appropriate designation for something the island wants to preserve.
Crowell
explained that the current open zone allows lots of development, usage and
structures, and that the proposed resource zone would restrict more types of
development, usage and structures than currently allowed in the open
zone.
Crowell said current open-zone rules allow one home per
acre.
Perry suggested keeping the name “open” zone, but changing rules in
that zone to reflect more strict development criteria.
Hopman said
“resource” sounds like something to be used, like monetary resources or natural
resources.
Another person, speaking for one of three smaller groups who
discussed what they liked and didn’t like about the proposed General Plan, said
having a resort designation on Waimea lands makai of the highway may also send
the wrong signal of Waimea as a resort town, rather than a working
town.
Another agreed, saying resort and other development planned for
Waimea will mean more people and more cars in her currently quiet home.
In
that same small group, most members expressed concerns about the lack of
“pedestrian-friendly” facilities like sidewalks, road shoulders, walking and
biking paths, and similar needs.
Kekaha’s Bruce Pleas feels the heritage
resource maps as proposed in the plan are lacking nearly to the point of being
a joke.
When asked by Crowell his suggestion, Pleas said re-draw the maps
from one end of the island to another.
Don Heacock concurred, saying what
was missing in his mind are heritage river designations for both the Waimea and
Hanapepe rivers, as well as language aimed at not only preserving but rest
oring the rivers.
“All the (Native Hawaiian gathering and fishing) rights
in the world are meaningless if there’s nothing there to gather,” Heacock
said.
Pleas and others also expressed concern about the proposed Robinson
Family Partners resort along the ocean between Waimea and Pakala, called
Kapalawai. He also criticized planners for not scheduling a meeting on the
discussion draft in Waimea or Kekaha.
Planners said two earlier meetings on
Westside planning matters were held in Waimea, so they scheduled Wednesday’s
meeting for ‘Ele’ele.
Westside residents at the meeting expressed concern
for the future of the Kekaha landfill and Kaua’i Veterans Memorial Hospital,
and about proposed resort development on Robinson Family Partners land near
Pakala village.
Future development will require an expanded hospital for
the Westside, said Lewis Shortridge, a Hanapepe resident and business
owner.
Speaking on the plan in general, he said a vision by itself is only
a vision.
What the plan needs to ultimately become is a tool, a reference
for the state, DOT and others to use intelligently as the voice of the people,
for direction, he said.
“How it will be used is up to us. Our
responsibility doesn’t end here,” he stressed. “2020 will certainly get here by
itself. How we get there is up to us,” he said.
Finally, he said, concerns
about view planes need to consider views not only to the beach and the ocean,
but from the beach and the ocean as well.
County Council Vice Chairman
Bryan Baptiste and Councilmember Gary Hooser were in attendance at the ‘Ele’ele
meeting, along with other CAC members Joy Canute, Rob Culbertson, Roland Sagum
and Linda Fayé Collins.
This round of meetings continues Monday,
Jan. 24, at Kapa’a Elementary School, and Tuesday, Jan. 25, at Hanalei
Elementary School, both starting at 6:30 p.m. and running until at least 9
p.m.
