The county Planning Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved the zoning permit, with certain conditions, for a 56,000-square-foot commercial center anchored by Safeway in Puhi. Construction on the 23-acre Grove Farm-owned property, west of Kukui Grove, is anticipated to be completed
The county Planning Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved the zoning permit, with certain conditions, for a 56,000-square-foot commercial center anchored by Safeway in Puhi.
Construction on the 23-acre Grove Farm-owned property, west of Kukui Grove, is anticipated to be completed within the next two years. In addition to the grocery, Hokulei Village is expected to offer a mix of local and national retailers, restaurants, banks, offices, a community center and gas station.
“Safeway is excited to have received this approval for our 20th store in Hawai‘i and our second on Kaua‘i,” said Gerry Wolfe, Safeway’s vice president-real estate, in an e-mail.
The commission mostly followed the Planning Department’s recommendations during the evening session at the Mo‘ikeha Building. The seven-member volunteer body approved a condition requiring the construction of a roundabout at the Nuhou and Kaneka streets intersection among other measures to mitigate vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, the YMCA and a retirement community sit across the street from the proposed commercial center. Some parents said they are worried about their kids crossing a busy road to go shop at the new outlets.
“To me, as an employee of CKMS and a father of an attending seventh-grader and simply a rational resident, this result is unacceptable,” Kapa‘a resident Rolf Bieber states in a letter. “I proposed to the commission that no access to the project be allowed at the bus area or Kaneka Road due to the high volume of keiki and kupuna.”
The commission imposed a condition that is a Kaua‘i-first in traffic mitigation. A pedestrian-activated flashing light will be installed in the pavement at the crosswalks to alert drivers of someone crossing the road.
This still has to be cleared with Public Works, Commission Chair Steven Weinstein said yesterday.
Flashing school warning signs will also be installed on Nuhou and Kaneka streets, said Lihu‘e resident Jan TenBruggencate, who has been doing public relations work for Safeway.
Additionally, a hedge will be planted along Nuhou Street to discourage pedestrians from crossing at places other than designated crosswalks.
The Hokulei Village Safeway will be the second on the Eastside. The California-based national chain operates a roughly 37,000-square-foot store in Kapa‘a. Plans are underway for a multimillion-dollar renovation of the Kapa‘a store scheduled to start early in 2009 featuring juice bars, Wi-Fi and a focus on organic food.
The application says the Puhi Safeway would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while the other stores in the proposed center would be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The commission considered the impact the commercial center would have on existing retail outlets and groceries, but Weinstein said no one from Big Save or Star Market testified against the project for those reasons.
“Competition is good,” he said.
Safeway representatives said the company has the finances to proceed despite the global economic crisis.
Safeway’s project manager said last month that the company has received signed letters of interest for three-fourths of the space in the center. “We also look forward to introducing a range of stores at Hokulei Village that are not now represented in the retail mix on Kaua‘i,” said Wolfe.
The proposed commercial center would have 1,028 centrally located parking stalls.
County documents show the developer is running off an assumption that the Department of Transportation will, within the next year or two, begin its road-widening improvements to make Kaumuali‘i Highway four lanes.
Safeway’s traffic expert said he expects the widening to be completed about the same time the store would open.
The commission approved an interim plan should the widening project not be completed in time. It calls for an unsignalized intersection at Rapozo Crossing, the main entrance off the highway, that will include storage lanes for vehicles to turn into and out of the center.
This will be the 20th Safeway store in the state.
Commissioners Stuart Hollinger, Herman Texeira and Kurt Akamine were absent for the vote on the Safeway project.
For more information, visit www.kauai.gov
