LIHU’E — The Kaua’i Planning Commission continued to hear public comment Thursday on the Robinson Family’s plan to build a resort on family land near Pakala. Destination Villages, LLC (Limited Liability Company) is seeking General Plan and zoning changes to
LIHU’E — The Kaua’i Planning Commission continued to hear public comment
Thursday on the Robinson Family’s plan to build a resort on family land near
Pakala.
Destination Villages, LLC (Limited Liability Company) is seeking
General Plan and zoning changes to allow development of the project. The
hearing was continued until Thursday, July 13.
Those in favor of the
project point to the advantage of jobs for Westside residents. Those opposed
think the resort would be better mauka instead of makai of Kaumuali’i
Highway.
The $33 million project will include 250 cottages, two
restaurants, three swimming pools, lu’au grounds, sports courts, amphitheater,
and, inside the vacant Robinson family mansion that is named Kapalawai, a bar,
lounge and museum.
Scott Ezer, senior associate with the Honolulu planning
firm Helber Hastert & Fee, said there are eight employee homes on the
parcel, four occupied. Lewis Geyser, of developer Destination Villages, has
said those remaining residents will be allowed to continue living on the
parcel.
Destination Villages will lease the parcel from Robinson Family
Partners.
Wastewater and potable water systems will be built and maintained
by the developer.
In Eleanor Robinson’s will is a stipulation that land
between the mansion and the ocean be kept in open space, and the developer
plans to honor that request, Ezer said.
As some human skeletal remains have
been found in archaeological sampling, a burial treatment plan will be
formulated in collaboration with the Kaua’i Island Burial Council, he
said.
Geyser said he hopes local entrepreneurs will run concessions at the
resort offering surfing, fishing, hiking, windsurfing and other
activities.
He said his company hopes to build a resort that will allow
folks to learn how it was to live on Kaua’i during the early 20th
century.
Judy Dalton, of the Kaua’i chapter of the Sierra Club, said the
developer admits in its environmental impact statement that the resort is not
“coastal-dependent,” so could and should be moved away from the
shoreline.
“We have serious reservations about the proposed Kapalawai
Resort development,” she said. “We find that the proposed construction of the
resort is inappropriate at the present time, and more seriously is
inappropriately located.”
Lisa Dunford, a Gay & Robinson employee, told
the story of two young Kauaians, one who plans to return to the island after
graduation from college to work at the resort, and another who won’t be coming
back because she doesn’t think there will be rewarding economic opportunities
for her here.
Bill Peay of the West Kaua’i Community Development
Corporation says Kapalawai fits into the Westside’s wishes for slow, careful
growth that shouldn’t significantly alter that side of the island’s small-town
feel.
Charles Okamoto of G&R said over 90 percent of G&R employees
signed petitions in favor of the project.
Tomo Kojiri of Pakala collected
92 signatures in two days in Pakala Village, and said in two days only one
resident refused to sign a petition in support of the project.
Ian Emberson
said Kapalawai will be a good alternative to sugar, adding that the visitors
he’s talked to are interested in staying in natural settings like the one- and
two-story cottages will offer.
Cheryl Lovell-Obatake echoed the testimony
offered earlier by Keith Robinson about her desire to see an ancient fishpond
on the property preserved as a habitat for endangered plants and
animals.
Taking 20 to 40 acres out of the project to protect the fishpond
won’t be difficult, she said, because the Robinson family owns other lands
adjacent to the proposed project site.
At least one G&R employee
doesn’t support the proposal. Joseph Manini, Sr., who is 69 and has worked for
G&R for 46 years, isn’t certain the Robinson family owns the land, and said
the commission might be violating federal law if it acts on the permit
application.
The West Kaua’i Business & Professional Association and
its 40 members with over 1,000 employees supports the proposal, largely because
it will create new jobs and increase business in the area, said Dave Walker,
immediate past president of the association.
Linda Fayé Collins,
president of Kikiaola Land Company, reports that the stockholders of the
company support the Kapalawai proposal.
“The project encompasses a very
small percentage of land belonging to the Robinson family, which has exhibited
its determination to keep the sugar industry alive on Kaua’i,” she said in
written testimony.
“This kama’aina family deserves our support in their
efforts to diversify.”
Puanani Rogers submitted written testimony asking
the commission to defer action on the matter, reiterating her position that all
new resort proposals be deferred until the General Plan Update process has been
completed.
She also said, along with Bruce Pleas, that more thorough
archaeological studies are needed on the parcel.
In other action,
commissioners were granted a time extension until Thursday, May 11, to act on a
county Planning Department recommendation regarding permits necessary to
convert the Wai’ohai Hotel in Po’ipu into the Marriott Waiohai Beach
Club.
Due to a requirement to inform the state Small Business Regulatory
Review Board about the commission’s proposed new chapter of rules regarding
special permits, the public hearing on the rules was postponed as well.
The
review board is expected to issue its recommendations regarding the rules in
time for the public hearing to be held at the next commission meeting,
Thursday, May 11.
