LIHU’E — Greg Schredder, chairman of the Lawai Road Action Committee, was happy and dismayed by the Kaua’i County Planning Commission’s approval Tuesday of Kukui’Ula Development Co. Hawaii’s proposal for a 1,002-acre project at Kukui’ula in Po’ipu. Schredder said he
LIHU’E — Greg Schredder, chairman of the Lawai Road Action Committee, was happy and dismayed by the Kaua’i County Planning Commission’s approval Tuesday of Kukui’Ula Development Co. Hawaii’s proposal for a 1,002-acre project at Kukui’ula in Po’ipu.
Schredder said he and his group support the project because it will be an asset to the island, but is frustrated the commission didn’t address to his satisfaction how traffic on Lawa’i Road from the project can be mitigated.
A Planning Department staffer said a 60-page department report properly addressed his concerns, adding the developers had already agreed to build a construction road through the resort site, thus removing the use of Lawa’i Road to bring construction trucks, supplies and workers to the project site.
At a Planning Commission meeting at the Lihu’e Civic Center, Schredder objected to one provision in the report that would allow the developers, if they desire, to convert an emergency road that leads to Kukui’ula Harbor in Po’ipu into a paved and permanent access road.
The connector road would provide emergency egress only from Lawa’i Road, the report said, but developers could use it as a permanent access in the future should they desire.
“I never saw that, nobody ever talked about that. We just got the recommendation Friday,” Schredder said during a break in the commission meeting.
If the commission and the county approve that condition, his group will file lawsuits to overturn the decision, Schredder pledged.
“If the council approves it, we are just going to fight it,” said Schredder, whose group retained John Carroll, an attorney from Honolulu and the Big Island.
Schredder also said the emergency road should only be used for mauka travel in emergencies, as was the case during Hurricane ‘Iniki in 1992, providing a safe passage from many people as tsunami waves pounded the shoreline and wrecked homes, Schredder said.
Margy Parker of the Poipu Beach Resort Association has said the emergency road should be opened up so that motorists can travel makai and mauka from Lawa’i Road.
Opening up the road that way would allow anybody from the resort to get to Spouting Horn Park without having to travel through the resort and use Lawa’i Road, Parker has said.
Representatives for the developers have said that they have talked with both sides on the issue, and could work with them and the county for a solution agreeable to all.
Related to traffic from the project, the developers have promised county officials to build a western bypass road to route traffic away from Koloa town and to build a construction road within the project site.
In a letter sent to the Planning Commission, Schredder said his group also had these concerns: closing of Alania Road; expansion of a proposed park; addition of a beach-lined ocean pool or swimming feature; opening the harbor to additional charters, resulting in commercialization of the area; and proposals for more parking spaces on Lawa’i Road.
Staff Writer Lester Chang may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net.
