A&B’s Kukui’Ula development plan gains approval

LIHU’E — The Kaua’i County Planning Commission approved Tuesday Kukui’Ula Development Co. Hawai’i’s proposal for a 1002-acre project at Kukui’ula — the largest residential and resort project ever proposed in South Kaua’i.

At its meeting at the Lihu’e Civic Center, the commission also approved a request by the developer to expand the project’s Visitor Destination Area (VDA) designation for the project from 160 acres to all 1,002 acres.

The designation would allow timeshare and vacation-rental activity across the entire project, although timeshare projects are now limited to 106 acres within the “core areas” of the resort under the developers’ current master plan.

Some residents voiced concerns the granting of the VDA designation could bring even more visitors to the project site, lessening the sense of community in surrounding areas.

The commission unanimously approved amendments to zoning designations for the 1,002 acres from resort, open, commercial, agricultural, special treatment districts to residential, resort, open, commercial and special treatment districts.

On the request to expand the VDA designation to the entire project, the commission approved it by a 4-1 vote. The dissenting vote came from Commissioner Lawrence Chaffin Jr., who said timeshare units and vacation rentals should not be allowed in residential areas.

The commission’s decision is advisory in nature, as the two zoning proposals by Kukui’Ula Development will now go before the Kaua’i County Council.

Favorable action would result in the culmination of nearly two decades of work by land-owner Alexander & Baldwin Inc. to develop a resort and residential project on the land.

Partly to generate more funds for the project, the kama’aina company and DMB Associates Inc. of Scottsdale Ariz., formed partnership subsidiaries in recent years to carry out the current proposal.

The developers are proposing to develop a maximum of 1,500 units, mostly single-family dwellings, plus a 64-room hotel, an 18-hole golf course, recreational facilities, 26 acres for commercial uses, including retail shops and restaurants, parks, and open spaces and a sewage treatment plant.

The developers also would provide land for two school sites and 60 affordable housing units near Po’ipu Road.

The two zoning-amendment requests approved by the commission are modifications to conditions in an existing ordinance that were approved for A&B’s original project in the past, Keith Nitta, a senior planner with the county Planning Department, wrote in a 60-page report to the Planning Commission.

Nitta said these were some of the major changes in the new project: there has been a 50-percent reduction in density, from 3,400 housing units to 1,500 units; most of the multi-family zoning was replaced by single-family zoning; the number of hotel rooms was reduced by 200 to about 64 units; the density of the resort core area has been reduced from 700 units to 187 units; a “wetland feature” is being removed from the resort core, and the resort core is being moved farther away from Lawa’i Road; a 20-acre community park is replacing smaller “pocket parks,” and the VDA designation is being increased from 160 acres to 1,002 acres.

During previous commission meetings and those with representatives for the developers, residents voiced support for the project.

But they have emphasized their concerns about traffic impact from the project, including vehicular flow to Lawa’i Road.

The developers will be building interior roads in the project, have proposed the completion of a western bypass road to route traffic away from Koloa town, and are negotiating with adjacent landowners for a northern leg to enable the western bypass to connect with Maluhia Road, a county report said.

Staff Writer Lester Chang may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net.