KOLOA — South Shore residents want the Kukui‘Ula resort development. They just don’t want the traffic that would come along with it, according to many of the nearly 40 speakers at Monday night’s Kaua‘i County Council hearing at Koloa School.
KOLOA — South Shore residents want the Kukui‘Ula resort development.
They just don’t want the traffic that would come along with it, according to many of the nearly 40 speakers at Monday night’s Kaua‘i County Council hearing at Koloa School.
Crammed into a tiny table to testify in front of the Kaua‘i County Council’s Planning Committee, speakers raised concerns mainly on two topics, traffic and local housing, even though they were expressing support for the proposed 1,002-acre resort development in Po‘ipu.
While the cafeteria was filled to near-capacity, with many folks standing in corners throughout the three-plus-hour meeting, the tone of the speakers was civil and overwhelmingly positive in regards to landowner Alexander & Baldwin, Kukui‘Ula Development Company, and DMB Associates Inc. of Scottsdale Ariz., the joint developers of the project.
“I stand in full support of the proposals,” said Holly Baumgartner, a Koloa Estates resident. A&B’s “vision is significantly different from the original, (but) for us, they have done more than they needed to do.”
But like many of the other speakers, Baumgartner and her Koloa Estates neighbors are worried that current roadway plans will not alleviate the crush of traffic that the development proposed to add nearly 1,600 units will bring to the South Shore.
While the developers have proposed building or setting aside parcels of land for a western access road, residents say the current infrastructure will burst by adding that many more units. Some residents expressed concern that the road would not be done soon enough.
While Koloa Estate residents worried about the impact of increased traffic on the residential Laua‘e Place, Lawai Road residents expressed concern that the road fronting their homes will be literally deadly if traffic gets any worse.
Chuck Tomesko, a Lawai Road resident who lives near Kukui‘ula Small Boat Harbor, has seen people die on Lawai Road, when an accident occurred in front of his house in 1991. Two accidents have already occurred this year, he said.
“Somebody is going to get killed again,” especially with the excessive traffic the new development will bring, said Tomesko. “It is a recipe for disaster. Look at the present road condition,” with a narrow, winding road already accommodating buses and cars to Spouting Horn Park.
“Think outside the box,” implored Chris Pinkerton, a Koloa resident. “You have to do this responsibly. Design roads that make sense.”
And a number of residents added that the additional tax dollars raised by the development should be earmarked to improve the infrastructure.
The other concern reiterated by a number of Kaua‘i residents is the lack of affordable housing the development provides.
In the beginning of the proposal, 20 years ago, until 1999, the development had more units, but included homes that were moderately priced.
The development’s projected starting costs for a single-family home, according to one of the speakers, Dr. Jack Lundgren, would be $975,000.
Add to that the request for the entire project to be designated a Visitor Destination Area, which would allow for timeshare units, and the entire area will be vacation rentals, timeshares, and second homes, some residents argued.
State Sen. Gary Hooser, D-Kaua‘i-Ni‘ihau, the first speaker from the public, implored the council and the developers to “keep in mind” more reasonable housing so that Kaua‘i residents, who already face a housing shortage, can live in some of the only new homes being built.
“There is a fundamental flaw when those people who (would build the homes) will have no place to live,” said Hooser, who added that he was speaking “as a private citizen, obligated and compelled as an advocate of residents facing the housing shortage.”
Hooser, citing quotes from council members in 1999, said the original intent of the development was for housing Kaua‘i residents by offering houses within a wide range of prices.
The current system, Hooser said, “calls for 1,500 vacation homes.”
Councilmember JoAnn Yukimura, Planning Committee chairwoman, asked a question of those testifying, including union representatives, building contractors, and construction-company owners, whether their workers could afford homes on Kaua‘i.
While most of those in the construction industry said that their tradespeople could, Yukimura expressed concern that other workers in the area and a number of those taking the 560 jobs expected to be created by the development could not afford to live on Kaua‘i, and certainly not in the development.
While each speaker testified to their reservations of the project, only one man, Jerry Vigil, a Koloa business owner and area resident, testified that he could not support the project.
Kukui‘Ula “offers no solutions to our housing shortage on Kaua‘i,” said Vigil. “The original intent was to have housing for Kaua‘i residents.”
The development proposal includes mostly single-family dwellings, plus a 64-room hotel, an 18-hole golf course, and recreational facilities, said Tom Shigemoto of A&B Properties, who spoke on behalf of the developers.
It includes a ton of amenities for the community as well, including 45 acres of biological and archaeological reserves, 20 acres of public-park space, 17 acres for hiking and biking trails that will be open to the public, more land to be used to build affordable housing units at Paanau Village in Koloa, a seven-acre site to be donated to the state Department of Education for a new school or expansion of Koloa School, as well as roughly 11.15 acres donated for the western bypass, as well as a new sewage treatment plant.
“$50 million has been spent already,” said Shigemoto. “We got approval (from the Planning Commission) with 32 conditions. We are subjected to those conditions. We are not trying to get out of any of them.”
The council’s Planning Committee, and later the full council, will decide whether or not to approve zoning changes developers want to make regarding the project.
Staff Writer Tom Finnegan may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or mailto:tfinnegan@pulitzer.net.
