The Kaua’i County Council will keep the island’s bicycles in the rack for at least another week. The council deferred action Thursday on a request from the county engineer to apply for and spend a biking-related $300,000 federal Economic Development
The Kaua’i County Council will keep the island’s bicycles in the rack for at least another week.
The council deferred action Thursday on a request from the county engineer to apply for and spend a biking-related $300,000 federal Economic Development Initiative-Special Project grant.
The grant would be used for the master planning and discretionary permitting of the oft-proposed Kapa’a-to-Kealia bike and pedestrian path.
Engineer Cesar Portugal was seeking the grant in place of federal enhancement funding, which would have required a 20 percent match by the county.
But before the council took any action, Cheryl Lovell-Obatake, a Native Hawaiian and environmental activist, said she wanted to make sure that a cultural impact assessment was included in any plans concerning the proposed bikepath.
“‘During the 1950s and 1960s, hundreds of federal projects — such as highways, dams, and urban renewal — were completed with little regard for historic resources. As a result, those projects destroyed or damaged thousands of historic properties,'” Lovell-Obatake said, quoting the national Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
The state of Hawai’i adopted guidelines for assessing cultural impacts of state (and federal) projects in November 1997, and Lovell-Obatake asked that those be followed.
Native Hawaiian burial sites are spread around the island, and there might be other possible sacred sites along the proposed bikepath, according to local Hawaiian history buffs.
Contrary to the usual policy of approving almost all requests to seek federal funding, the council deferred action on the bikepath grants to the full council committee for more discussion next week.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
