LIHU‘E — Fresh off a multi-million dollar upgrade to the St. Regis resort, Princeville residents and vacationers will have to make do with one older piece of infrastructure. The Kaua‘i Planning Commission last week approved a plan from the Princeville
LIHU‘E — Fresh off a multi-million dollar upgrade to the St. Regis resort, Princeville residents and vacationers will have to make do with one older piece of infrastructure.
The Kaua‘i Planning Commission last week approved a plan from the Princeville Makai Golf Course to delay the previously-approved and -permitted demolition of the existing golf clubhouse and construction of a new golf clubhouse and to instead add improvements to the existing tennis clubhouse and use it as a temporary golf clubhouse.
Authorized representative Avery Youn said the existing golf clubhouse, in use since suffering damage in Hurricane ‘Iniki in 1992, would be reduced from approximately 40,000 square feet to 35,000 square feet and that revised plans would be submitted but that the applicant prefers to keep the permits open and delay construction rather than withdraw the applications and start from scratch, a “cumbersome” process.
Youn said a multi-million dollar renovation to the Makai course will be finished around the end of the year, at which time tennis facilities will be used to support golf operations. He said revised plans for the golf clubhouse are expected in March, building permits in the summer of 2010, and completed construction 18 months to two years after that, depending on financing.
Youn said the plans do not “match Princeville” as currently designed. “You know they have to come up with something better than that,” he said.
Planner Ka‘aina Hull said the relevant permits have been sitting at the county Department of Public Works for a year and remain unacted upon, and the “indefinite” delay could last several years, pushing for the commission to require more from the applicant.
Commissioner Paula Morikami expressed misgivings about doing the project “piecemeal,” but Commissioner Caven Raco said he had no issue allowing the permits to stand so long as any changes would reduce the footprint of the clubhouse. Youn promised to return to the commission if any major changes are planned.
The commission approved the request, removing a permit condition that had been recommended by the Planning Department requiring new permits.
For more information on the Princeville Makai Golf Course, visit www.princeville.com/makai_course.html.
