Amid public concerns about public access, Anahola community leader James Torio has urged Anahola residents to give input on a Kaua‘i County proposal for a 23-mile bicycle and pedestrian pathway that could end in Anahola or on the outskirts of
Amid public concerns about public access, Anahola community leader James Torio has urged Anahola residents to give input on a Kaua‘i County proposal for a 23-mile bicycle and pedestrian pathway that could end in Anahola or on the outskirts of the community.
“It can’t be where the county comes into Anahola and says ‘we are coming with our bike path, we just want to attach you (Anahola) to us,'” Torio said during a community meeting at the Kapa‘a High School cafeteria last Thursday.
Torio’s comments came during a meeting the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands held to discuss a proposed $235-million, 20-year development plan for 20,000 acres and more DHHL manages on Kaua‘i.
The acreage includes those Anahola, which is home to the largest Hawaiian community on Kaua‘i.
Torio’s comments came after an audience member raised questions over whether parts of the proposed bicycle-pathway could interfere with his ability to drive to the beach for recreational use.
Kaua‘i County is proposing a six-phase, 23-mile bicycle pathway from Nawiliwili Harbor to Anahola, to significantly enhance recreational opportunities along that coastline for residents and visitors.
One phase by Lydgate Park in Wailua is completed, and plans for another 4.3-mile section are moving forward.
Torio said construction of portions of the pathway, a northern leg, to Anahola seems inevitable.
“Regardless of what input you put into the bicycle path with the county, the bicycle path is coming,” Torio said. “It is like trying to stop one Mack truck.”
Torio said Anahola residents should be ready to make adjustments when the project comes to the doorstep of their community.
“There is one thing I have learned about this bike path, change is inevitable,” Torio said. “The sugar lands gave us all the access we wanted in the old days, that’s gone.”
Torio said changes occurring on Kaua‘i now mean “more new people coming to our islands, and bicycles, skateboards and roller blades, and who even knows what else is coming.”
Since that portion of the bicycle/pathway will most likely come to Anahola, area residents should get involved in the planning of it, and clearly state their views on the project and in a “pono (successful, proper and fair) way,” Torio said.
George Atta is lead consultant for the Honolulu-based Group 70, which worked with DHHL to develop the proposed $235-million land development plan for lands on Kaua‘i managed by DHHL.
Attu said representatives from the administration of Mayor Bryan Baptiste have approached DHHL officials about the bicycle/pedestrian project, but that agency officials have made “no commitment” to the plan at this time.
“I don’t think that we have a firm proposal from them yet,” Atta said.
DHHL spokesman Darrell Yagodich said Anahola residents in the 1980s voiced a preference to keep the coastline in Anahola as open space.
Yagodich said that while county officials may want the northern portion of the bicycle/pathway to end in or around Anahola, the Hawaiian Homes Commission will have the final say on any project that could encroach on DHHL lands.
The proposed 23-mile recreational project has been widely accepted by Kaua‘i residents so far.
But a handful of residents have told county officials that the $30 million in federal funds that have been set aside for the project should be re-allocated by the federal government to build more roads to deal with Kauai’s ever-worsening traffic problems.
Consultants for the county bicycle/pedestrian project have said the federal funds are specifically targeted for such projects, and that the funds can’t be re-allocated.
Critics also have raised questions over whether there are sufficient government funds to maintain the project.
During other discussion at the DHHL meeting Thursday, a resident who is a teacher asked whether she and 15 other educators from Anahola could lease space from DHHL for a school in Anahola.
She was told space may be available at a site in Anahola that is proposed for a public school one day.
She also was told that if that land was not available to her, she and the other teachers could lease space elsewhere in Anahola, but would probably have to pay for improvements themselves.
Yagodich said DHHL officials would welcome any project that would benefit DHHL beneficiaries on Kaua‘i, and recommended to the resident that her best option would be to bring a proposal to the agency for review.
If the school proposed by the teachers benefits Hawaiians specifically, the rent would be nominal, Yagodich added.
With plans to develop 1,088 residential lots over the next 20 years being advocated and the population of Anahola anticipated to grow, a public school would needed to be built in Anahola, Yagodich said. Property has already been set aside for such a school, he added.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
