KOLOA — After a year of litigation, a federal court settlement has ensured that Koloa Marketplace LLC will, in fact, move forward with its plans to build an office and shopping complex in Koloa Town. The 76,200-square-foot center will feature
KOLOA — After a year of litigation, a federal court settlement has ensured that Koloa Marketplace LLC will, in fact, move forward with its plans to build an office and shopping complex in Koloa Town.
The 76,200-square-foot center will feature a dozen buildings between Koloa and Maluhia roads. But residents of Koloa town, known for its row of historic storefronts and canopy of Monkeypod trees, say their concerns were thrown out the window with the settlement.
Last night about 60 people gathered at a regularly scheduled Koloa Community Association meeting to hear the details of the agreement, which was reached late last month in U.S. District Court. Koloa Marketplace filed a lawsuit for civil rights violations in October 2006 against Kaua‘i County, alleging the Planning Department failed to process permit applications in a timely manner.
The County Attorney’s Office expressed its satisfaction with the settlement Wednesday during a County Council meeting. However, the Koloa Community Association was not as pleased upon hearing the details. It has stressed four main issues with the project that it says were not reconciled: building in the floodway, design consistent with the historic district, retaining Monkeypod trees on the project site, and contribution to the transportation system plan.
The association’s president, Louis Abrams, said last night’s meeting was not a “feel-good time,” but it’s important that residents know what’s going on.
“We can go back to the drawing board to see if there are things we can do,” Abrams said.
Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, who expressed concern about the community’s and county’s interests not being represented in the deal, said that there’s not a lot that can be done on the county level at this point.
“I don’t see very many options for the community,” she said, noting that developer-community collaboration during the settlement’s implementation is the best bet to address concerns.
Top on the list, Abrams said, is saving as many Monkeypod trees as possible. The settlement allows tree relocation and removal, so long as similar trees are planted on the project site.
There are an estimated 12 trees tagged on the project site. Maureen Murphy, president of the Outdoor Circle and the certified arborist for the Koloa Community Association, hopes that doesn’t mean they will be removed. “(Monkeypod) are our signature tree,” she said.
Murphy noted that some of those tagged trees, which she called “beautiful and stately,” are 50-plus years old.
The developer’s attorney Gary Grimmer declined to comment on Koloa Marketplace’s plans.
Another discrepancy between the original plan for the development and the settlement, Abrams said, is the developer’s contribution to the community traffic plan. The court order stipulated that the developer contribute $383,201 for transportation-related improvements to the Koloa and Po‘ipu area. But Abrams said Koloa Marketplace had committed to almost double that before litigation.
Because each developer’s contribution to the traffic mitigation study and plan is voluntary, their participation cannot be mandated.
If the Koloa Marketplace came up with a greater amount for transportation of their own accord, “it would be a wonderful gesture of aloha,” Yukimura said.
Abrams said in the future he hopes to see an impact fee ordinance that would require developers to pay for such studies and plans relating to future traffic problems.
Called The Shops at Koloa Town, the plans include 12 buildings, ranging in size from a few hundred square feet to 12,000 square feet. The Koloa Post Office will be relocated within the project site. The existing office will be demolished and replaced with a supermarket.
Settlement stipulations:
Among the 18 stipulations in the settlement, the court requires that the Planning Commission issue permits to Koloa Marketplace with the following conditions:
• The developer will widen the frontage along Koloa and Maluhia roads to create acceleration, deceleration, stacking and left-turn lanes.
• The developer’s site plans will include design considerations such as roofs, canopies, building shape and height, materials, color, scale, circulation and ADA accessibility.
• The developer will provide $383,201 toward the area transportation system plan.
• Exterior lighting must comply with requirements to minimize adverse impacts to federally listed species such as Newell’s Shearwater birds.
• The county must follow its timeline for permit issuance.
• The developer must comply with standards for construction within a floodway and submit a drainage study and no rise determination.
• The developer can remove or relocate trees; any lost tree must be replaced with one of similar size and specie.
• The developer will construct a single two-way access from Maluhia Road as well as one from Koloa Road into the current post office access.
• Parking is prohibited from the Koloa and Maluhia roads intersection.
• Sidewalks along the frontage roads must be completed before occupancy.
