KOLOA — Koloa Camp tenants and their community supporters are asking Grove Farm to move its intended residential development to the other side of Koloa’s bypass road. The suggestion came at a Thursday meeting with Grove Farm representatives at the
KOLOA — Koloa Camp tenants and their community supporters are asking Grove Farm to move its intended residential development to the other side of Koloa’s bypass road.
The suggestion came at a Thursday meeting with Grove Farm representatives at the Koloa Neighborhood Center. The main concern involved eight tenants who were given 120-day eviction notices in November.
Relatives present to speak on behalf of elderly, retired cane workers and surviving spouses, want Grove Farm to maintain the plantation-era homes also known as Japanese Camp C. It would otherwise be replaced in March by a 50-unit housing project that Grove Farm says will include affordable homes.
“I believe Grove Farm is making a poor choice for the location of this project,” said Kepa Kruse, 29, who was raised in his grandmother’s Koloa Camp home.
Kruse said the community supports affordable housing on Kaua‘i, but that a “win-win” situation necessary in this instance.
Grove Farm is building on the Koloa Town site because it owns the land and it is already zoned residential, representatives said. It is more cost-effective than building on land zoned agricultural, which they said would require a painstaking process of impact studies and other permits.
Kruse is advocating for building on the adjoining parcel across the bypass road on undeveloped agricultural land also owned by Grove Farm, because it offers better road access and more suitable for infrastructure. It has no historical buildings or streams and, unlike Koloa Camp, is above the flood zone, he added.
“Why do you want to build on 24 acres of flood zone?” he questioned.
Grove Farm would need to assume the additional burdens of changing the zoning of the ag land, Kruse said, but the community would support an alternative plan that embraces family ideals and a self-sustaining, eco-friendly design.
“Nobody has to be the bad guy and we can all make this work,” he said.
The project already has an open or residential community designation in the county general plans, according to Grove Farm project manager and assistant secretary Dave Hinazumi. He represented the company in the absence of president and CEO Warren Haruki and senior VP Michael Tresler.
On questions of timing and of the urgency to remove renters and destroy properties before the permitting process is completed, Hinazumi said planning decisions are based on anticipated time of approvals.
“We feel that we can get our approvals in time and have to move this process along,” Hinazumi said.
The company would respond to environmental concerns but unless something is done to trigger the process, Hinazumi said an environmental impact study is not required.
“That doesn’t mean that just anything goes on the land,” he added. “We still need to be sure we comply with all of the agencies, whether state, historic, federal and county permitting.”
Grove contends the site is becoming uninhabitable with unimproved roads and cesspool sewage systems, he said. The project would tear everything down and bring in imported modular homes to include solar water heaters and other improvements. Renters would be given first opportunity to purchase, but added that it is up to them to inquire about eligibility for low-income grants and loans.
Some residents said it was disingenuous to promote the project as affordable when it is unlikely the elders or their children could afford the mortgage.
Hinazumi listened as more than a dozen speakers claimed the project would do more harm than good. Some said Grove is evicting the workers that helped make the company great.
County Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura compared the project to those of off-island development companies in the past.
“If Grove Farm is really about affordable housing, then it needs to become experts in affordable housing and know what it takes to provide that,” Yukimura said. “It doesn’t make any sense to evict people who are now living in affordable housing to provide stuff that we’re not even sure is going to be affordable.”
Yukimura encouraged Grove Farm to figure out how to incorporate the people who already live there in to its plan.
Resident John Kruse, a county planning employee, is concerned with the lack of a traffic study. He felt the geography would not allow for the congestion from 100 more cars on Wailahau Road, a narrow residential street.
With just 866 feet to the bridge, Kruse said, there would not be enough room to make a stacking lane on the Koloa’s bypass. It would require removing additional houses or front yards not owned by Grove Farm.
Other residents expressed concern about impermeable ground and did not believe a septic system could handle all 50 homes. They said existing trees and brush absorb wetlands and provide a nesting ground for the endangered Hawaiian Duck.
Clyde Kodani, a Grove Farm engineering consultant, explained that portions of the site fall down to 211 feet, which is under the flood zone at 217 feet. About 8,000 yards of existing fill would come from on and off site to raise the lower areas up to elevation.
The outlined work to elevate the ground and reshape the banks of the stream had some residents concerned that it would pollute the river. Others expressed outrage that it would lead to flooding in neighboring low areas.
Another round of speakers focused on preserving the culture and character of Koloa Town.
Daviann Kenney, a leader of the Koloa Canoe Club, thanked Grove Farm for providing land for a dry dock. Her concern is whether the 30 year-old club will be allowed to continue as a culturally relevant activity for kids.
Another resident described Koloa Camp as one of a few remaining Kaua‘i communities where everybody knows their neighbors and are even raising one another’s kids.
Ken Taylor suggested Grove Farm preserve the camp as a historic site.
“There is so much that has been lost around the island already,” he said.
A follow-up meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Jan. 15 at Koloa Neighborhood Center. Kruse has created a website at savekoloacamp.com.
• Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or by emailing tlaventure@thegardenisland.com.
