Mickey Mouse on Kaua’i?

KALAPAKI BEACH – Disneyland Way West?

Warren Robinson, head of Robinson

Family Partners, said Thursday the family resisted unsolicited offers from

various companies interested in developing a choice parcel of beachfront land

near one of the island’s most popular surf sites.

Though he never saw the

plans for the area known as Kapalawai near the Pakala surf spot off Kaumuali’i

Highway near the Russian Fort and Waimea River, Robinson said a proposal by the

Disney organization was one of a handful of offers the family received –

without seeking them – from hotels, resorts, theme parks and other

developers.

It is not the first proposal of its kind for Kaua’i. During the

administration of former Mayor Tony Kunimura, a proposal was presented to build

a Disneyland-type park in Hanalei. The idea never evolved beyond the talking

stages.

Robinson’s revelations came during the final phase of the state

Land Use Commission public hearing on an application to change the state

land-use classification on 153 acres of Robinson family land from agricultural

to urban.

The change is necessary to allow Destination Villages Kaua’i, the

firm that won Robinson family support for a resort on the property, to build a

250-cabin resort on the parcel.

The units won’t have air-conditioning,

phones, TVs or cooking areas, and will be single and duplex cabins spread out

over the acreage.

During testimony supporting the application which the

family hopes will provide income to allow it to stay in its core sugar and

ranching businesses, Robinson also told the commission that a Japanese firm

wishing to erect a retirement village for elderly Japanese on the property had

contacted his family, as well as several other would-be developers.

Under

questioning from Michael Belles, attorney for Destination Villages, Robinson

said if the commission denied the application or for some other reason the

project were not developed, uses of the land would remain the same as they are

today.

That means the vacant former Robinson family mansion, Kapalawai,

would continue to deteriorate, as would a historic fishpond on the

site.

“It would be quite disastrous,” said Robinson, adding that the family

is counting on the resort’s revenue stream to allow it to continue operating

Gay & Robinson, Inc., with its sugar and ranching operations which employ

nearly 200 people.

“This would be just another leg cut off” if the resort

isn’t built, said Robinson. He said the family only considered resort use on

its lands to be able to generate revenue to allow the family to continue in

agriculture.

Alan Kennett, president and general manager of G&R, said

yesterday at the commission meeting at Kaua’i Marriott Resort & Beach Club that

a decision to furlough nearly all the G&R employees (a two-year, cost-cutting

tradition after the fall harvest has been completed) has been put on hold. It’s

awaiting the outcome of negotiations with the state for G&R to immediately

start farming the former Amfac Sugar Kaua’i lands in and around Kekaha leased

from the state.

Amfac announced in September that Nov. 17 would be its last

day of agricultural operations on the island, freeing up several thousand acres

of prime agricultural land on the west side.

Kennett told the commission

that G&R has been upgrading its mill and factory in anticipation of Amfac’s

demise, putting in $7 million worth of improvements to be able to handle

additional cane volumes associated with G&R taking over some if not all of the

former Amfac acreage at Kekaha.

A 20-year-low in sugar prices dampened the

enthusiasm for sugar’s present and future on the island, Kennett said, and was

responsible for Amfac’s decision to get out of the business.

“It is a very,

very difficult situation,” he said.

But there are opportunities, he said.

When G&R’s marketing agreement with C&H Sugar – which mandates that all the

sugar grown by G&R be sold to and marketed by C&H (California & Hawai’i) –

expires in June 2003, G&R will be ready to refine sugar on the island, with the

intent of supplying all of Hawai’i’s sugar needs.

That immediately got

Peter Yukimura’s attention. The Kaua’i member of the Land Use Commission, and

owner of Koa Trading, said he could buy 40,000 pounds of sugar a month from

G&R. Kennett said the two would talk later.

Yukimura asked about the

feasibility of refining and selling locally grown sugar on Kaua’i. Kennett

replied, “Absolutely,” adding that G&R has already begun installing the

necessary equipment.

Kennett told the commission he has never worked with

anyone who cares for employees as much as the Robinson family does. When

inevitable discussions came up regarding a potential closure of G&R’s sugar

operations, the family’s first concern was for the employees’ future, Kennett

said.

The family’s first priority is its employees, he said. Allowing

resort use on this small chunk of the family’s 51,000 acres of land on Kaua’i

would allow the family’s core agricultural operations to continue, he

concluded.

Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at [

HREF=”mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net”>pcurtis@pulitzer.net] or 245-3681 (ext.

224).