LIHU’E – The county Planning Department’s long-range planner looks at Lihu’e as a work in progress, far from finished. It is at the same time a planner’s worst nightmare with its horseshoe shape, and a do-able challenge through proper planning
LIHU’E – The county Planning Department’s long-range planner looks at Lihu’e as a work in progress, far from finished.
It is at the same time a planner’s worst nightmare with its horseshoe shape, and a do-able challenge through proper planning and execution, says planner Keith Nitta.
“Lihu’e in my mind is only half-built,” said Nitta, who sees traffic improvements, multi-family housing units and a solution to chronic sewer and water problems as necessary ingredients for the town’s long-term future.
Nitta made his comments before the Lihue Business Association at Hawaiian Classic Desserts bakery and restaurant on Rice Street.
Parking continues to be a problem in Lihu’e, said one association member. Nitta agreed, saying people don’t want to walk, preferring to park right in front of the shop they plan to enter.
County Council Chair Ron Kouchi said his vision for Rice Street includes trees, walkways and, he hopes, a resurgence of walking in Lihu’e.
The town, Nitta explained, was designed with what he calls “bonus parking.” Those coming to Lihu’e could park on Kuhio Highway and walk to ‘Akahi Street businesses by passing through easements mid-block in between four different pieces of private property.
The idea behind the layout of Kuhio Highway and ‘Akahi, ‘Elua and ‘Umi parallel streets was to have walkways between the streets in mid-block, Nitta explained.
That way, businesses could share parking stalls, and thereby would need fewer stalls in order to meet county requirements.
The idea may be to re-establish Lihu’e as a walking town, but when the county first proposed to permanently shut down to vehicular traffic ‘Eiwa Street between Hardy and Rice streets, the driving community complained, and the plan was shelved, said Doug Haigh of the county Department of Public Works.
Also, the Lihu’e development plan, which included bonus parking, pedestrian and traffic flow and street layout, was first done in 1977, “at its time ahead of its time,” said Nitta. That year, the island had 28,000 people, and Lihu’e had a population of 6,000.
Today, both the island and Lihu’e town figures have doubled, he said.
At the time of the first Lihue Development Plan, Nitta said he sensed that Kauaians wanted to move from a one-dimensional agrarian economy into something more diversified.
Commercial development at the island’s main airport and seaport was a natural idea, but major landowners Grove Farm and Amfac both had ideas of where commercial development would take place, he said.
Grove Farm wanted Kukui Grove to be the commercial center, and Amfac wanted to keep it in Lihu’e proper, near the headquarters of Lihue Plantation and the historic County Building that remains the center of county government, said Nitta, a Kaua’i native who has been with the Planning Department for many years.
Businesses and the community at-large remain concerned about where further commercial development will occur in and around Lihu’e, and now the traffic circulation boils down to Rice Street and Kuhio Highway, the two streets you need to be on to get anywhere in Lihu’e, he observed.
In fact, Haleko Road is in Nitta’s opinion the town’s most important street, because it is the only one that will take you from here to there.
And that brings him back to the fact that multi-family housing, a potential site of which was lost when Wal-Mart moved in along Kuhio Highway near Wilcox Memorial Hospital, was (and still is) seen as necessary to build Lihu’e’s critical mass.
Now, Lihu’e housing is spread all over the place, impacting traffic, he said.
The horseshoe shape of Lihu’e, opening toward the ocean and running from Hanama’ulu Bay to Kalapaki Bay, is that planner’s nightmare Nitta referred to.
So, an ongoing challenge is to encourage in-fill of the center of the horseshoe, instead of planning continued growth on the outside of the horseshoe, he said.
A bright spot in recent Lihu’e history is the center of that horseshoe coming under the control of one landowner, Steve Case and his Lihue Land Company (Grove Farm).
That should mean no further worries about competing landowners, each with their own ideas and visions for the future of Lihu’e, he noted.
Regarding Kauaians’ acceptance of multi-family housing, a concern raised by Kouchi, Nitta said that if the project or projects include rentals, or condominiums such as Schuler Homes built at Puhi, there likely would be community acceptance.
Still, Nitta understands that most people on Kaua’i still want to own their own lots with single-family homes.
And Realtor Mark Tanaka, of Kauai Realty, said the reality is that it’s cheaper to build a house and lot than it is to build multi-family units. Further, Tanaka said, apartments require hookup to county sewer lines, and not all of Lihu’e has sewer lines yet.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
