Commission defers Kapalawai decision

LIHU’E — The Kaua’i County Planning Commission yesterday closed one public

hearing and deferred action after another on a controversial resort development

proposal for the Westside.

Destination Villages Kaua’i LLC (limited

liability company) wants to build 250 cottages, with 164 single-unit and 43

duplex units, on approximately 160 acres of Robinson family land about one mile

east of Waimea, oceanside of Kaumuali’i Highway near Makaweli Landing and the

surf spot known as Pakala.

The proposal requires a county general plan

amendment (from open and agriculture to resort) and zoning amendment (from open

district and agriculture district to resort district), and a state Land Use

Commission (LUC) change from agricultural district to urban

district.

Public hearings on the LUC deliberations are set for July 20,

with a tour of the proposed site at 9:30 a.m. The public is invited, with

access to the property via a roadway at the 22-mile marker.

Citizens

planning to attend the field trip can let LUC officials know by calling

274-3141, then dialing 7-8322 and the pound sign (#) after the recorded

message.

Following the field trip, a public hearing will begin at 1 p.m. at

the Sheraton Kaua’i Resort’s Lawa’i room in Po’ipu. The hearing will continue

July 21 at 8:30 a.m.

Upon advice from Keith Nitta, a county planner, the

Planning Commission yesterday agreed to defer action on the county zoning

amendment until the commission’s Oct. 26 meeting. Officials figure the LUC

decision will be finalized by then.

The Planning Commission closed the

public hearing on the general plan amendment portion of the Kapalawai

deliberation, with Michael Belles, attorney for Destination Villages Kaua’i,

stating a county staff recommendation and possible commission vote on the

amendment could come at the commission’s July 27 meeting.

At yesterday’s

meeting, Bruce Pleas and Cheryl Lovell-Obatake continued their opposition to

the project, joined by Beryl Blaich of the Kaua’i chapter of the Sierra

Club.

Pleas said the project site is in the flood and tsunami zone, as well

as in the shoreline management area, and a resort would be better-suited on the

mountain side of the highway.

Further, he said, the Robinson family should

restore sites of historical and cultural importance to Native Hawaiians,

including a fishpond, a possible heiau site and a burial site. Streams running

through and around the parcel should also be restored to their original routes,

he added.

The beach area fronting the parcel should be preserved for use by

residents and visitors, though he cautioned that sharks regularly cruise the

waters near the beach.

Pleas said preliminary clearing may have eliminated

the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat from the site. The creature is the only

indigenous mammal on the island, he noted.

Trenching for phone and

electricity lines may unearth more burial sites, said Pleas, angered by the

plan to cover a known Native Hawaiian burial site with a lawn.

“This is not

right,” he said, asking Planning Commission members how they would feel if

their forebears ‘ graves were covered with grass and visitors were allowed to

play ball games on it.

The area, Pleas concluded, is not right for resort

zoning. He submitted copies of 85 letters in opposition to the project, from

residents of Kaua’i, Hawaii and the mainland.

Lovell-Obatake voiced social

concerns, with local families having to live in overcrowded homes while the

younger ones try to save enough money to make down payments on homes of their

own.

More low-cost, available housing is needed, she said.

Also, value

differences between long-time residents and newcomers sometimes cause friction,

as the newcomers try to impose their values on kama’aina, she claimed.

She

voiced her opposition to resort use of the property, saying a day-use cultural

center would be more palatable.

Blaich, coastal conservation organizer for

the Kaua’i chapter of the Sierra Club, said the development has the potential

to be a model resort, but the location is bad and the club can’t support

it.

The area is a flood drainage basin, with thousands of mauka acres

draining into the Kapalawai area, Blaich said. Among the purposes of the open

zone, she said, is to preserve the drainage areas.

Left it its current,

relatively undisturbed state, the parcel not only helps alleviate flooding, but

also improves water quality in the ocean nearby, Blaich said. Developed as a

resort, it is a potentially hazardous zone, she continued.

Rainfall (over

20 inches a year on average) plus irrigation water and drainage might add up to

more water than the parcel can handle, resulting in flooding, she said.

The

general plan final draft also recommends against altering natural drainage

areas, she observed.

In response to a question by commission member Bob

Kaden, Blaich said a Sierra Club lawsuit against the developer and county would

be a fall-back possibility.

On matters brought up by some speakers, Belles

said his client is working on certain setback limits, from the shoreline and

around the fishpond and streams.

The developer proposes to preserve and

restore important resources within the project area and will comply with

development regulations, Belles added.

Staff writer Paul C. Curtis can

be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or pcurtis@pulitzer.net