LIHU‘E — The Lihu‘e Business Association hosts a public Zoom meeting on the Lihu‘e Airport plan Thursday from 8 to 9 a.m. Register at https://tgilinks.com/3S5mejA
A link will be sent from Zoom upon successful registration.
The main speaker is Ross Higashi, state Department of Transportation Airports Division deputy director, reachable at ross.higashi@hawaii.gov.
Also on the program are Craig Davis, DOT-Airports Kaua‘i district manager, craig.h.davis@hawaii.gov; Davis Yogi, DOT-Airports administrator, davis.k.yogi@hawaii.gov; Guy Ichinotsubo, DOT-Airports Engineering Program manager, guy.ichinotsubo@hawaii.gov; Herman Tuiolosega, DOT head planner, herman.tuiolosega@hawaii.gov; and Ura Yvan, director, Ricondo &Associates, uyvan@ricondo.com.
Also expected to participate are members of Kaua‘i’s state Legislature delegation, including state Senate President Ron Kouchi and state Reps. Nadine Nakamura, Dee Morikawa and Jimmy Tokioka.
A Lihu‘e Airport plan was last completed in the 1980s, and the facility is overdue for an update. A shortage of parking availability, inadequate passenger-waiting areas, problematic air conditioning and occasional uncomfortable delays as planes wait on the tarmac for an open gate are but a few of the issues needing attention, according to an LBA press release.
The current Lihu‘e Airport master plan draft is not without controversy, however. Its proposal to expand the number of gates from nine to 12 and its vision of preparing for the forecast of a future 4.5 million passengers coming and going annually has garnered considerable community unease, according to Pat Griffin, LBA president.
