The County Planning Commission yesterday approved permits allowing Kapalawai Resort LLC to build a 160-acre eco-tourist resort in Makaweli. The commission’s action during its meeting at the Lihu’e Civic Center grants the developer a special management area permit, a project
The County Planning Commission yesterday approved permits allowing Kapalawai Resort LLC to build a 160-acre eco-tourist resort in Makaweli.
The commission’s action during its meeting at the Lihu’e Civic Center grants the developer a special management area permit, a project development use permit and a class IV zoning permit for a 250-unit resort.
Also planned are restaurants, a pavilion, lu’au grounds, a museum, bar, swimming pools, spa, sport courts and a club house.
Work at the 160-acre beachfront property is expected to start in a year, when engineering work is done and county permits are issued and other development conditions are met, according to Scott Ezer of Helber, Haster and Fee, a Honolulu land use planner.
The project would be different than other resorts or hotels touting eco-tourism, because this resort would enable residents to interact with visitors, enabling them to see how plantation life was, representatives for the developer have said.
In approving the project, the commission set some key conditions, including:
– Requiring the developer to comply with 27 conditions set by the state Land Use Commission when it approved a boundary amendment for the property last March.
These include providing affordable housing for residents and employees, construction of buildings away from flood zones, protecting endangered species and halting work when ancient Hawaiian remains or historical finds are located.
– Protection of six historic sites that include walls and terraces, an oval platform, a main house complex , an inland Hawaiian fishpond, a Portuguese and burial sites.
– A preservation plan for five sites to be sent to the state Historic Preservation Division.
– Resolution of easements.
– Status reports of the work the developer will send to the county Planing Department.
– Use of shielded lights and indirect light to minimize adverse impacts on the endangered Newell Shearwater and other seabirds.
– An environmental impact assessment of $1,000 for each of the 250 proposed cottage units for a total of $250,000.
– A landscape plan, building designs, color plans for buildings and plans taking into account the historical features of the property to be submitted with a permit application that is to be approved by the county planing director.
Modifications to the plans that are deemed to be substantial by the planning director shall require approval by the county Planing Commission.
Commission chairwoman Abigail Santos, said as a safeguard for the orderly implementation of landscaping plans in particular, the commission should have a say in determining whether the changes are substantial.
But commissioner Jay Furfaro said the current language in the permit conditions gives the commission the scrutinizing power Santos is seeking.
Kaua’i attorney, Michael Belles, representing Kapalawai, said the commission could be making more work than it needs by scrutinize every development requests that goes to the planning department.
Santos said she begged to differ, adding the request would not amount to extra work and that the commission’s scrutiny would result in a better project. The majority of the commission didn’t agree with her and didn’t consider her request.
West Kaua’i resident Bruce Pleas posed these requests to the commission:
– A new shoreline survey should be done because of new erosion of the beach. A new survey would help ensure setbacks for the project are valid.
– More parking space be developed by Pakala Beach, a favorite surfing spot.
– Public access should be provided through the northeast corner of the property 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
– Buffer zones around historical sites should be expanded if “these sites prove to be bigger or more extensive than they are thought to be at the present time,” Pleas said.
He also said that Hawaiian activist Judy Naumu-Stewart still questions the ownership of the 160-acre property by the Robinsons.
Belles has said that reports filed with government agencies indicate the Robinsons are the true owners of the property, and that he would make those papers available to her.
Robinson Family Partners is leasing the land to Kapalawai for the resort, the intention of which is to enhance the viability of projects undertaken by the Robinsons at their Gay & Robinson sugar mill and plantation in Makaweli.
These include sugar cultivation, growing of stevia, a crop to sweeten sugar, the sale of bagasse, a byproduct of sugar cane, and the possibility of development of a waste-to-energy project that could lengthen the life of the Kekaha landfill, if an agreement with Kaua’i County is reached.
Staff Writer Lester Chang can be reached at mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 225).
