LIHU’E — The visitor industry and business community called for the highest-possible visitor-count projections for the island’s future at a Kaua’i Planning Commission General Plan Update meeting yesterday. That means going with the state Department of Business, Economic Development &
LIHU’E — The visitor industry and business community called for the
highest-possible visitor-count projections for the island’s future at a Kaua’i
Planning Commission General Plan Update meeting yesterday.
That means going
with the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism
(DBED) figures projecting a Kaua’i year 2020 average daily visitor census of
between 30,000 and 32,000 people, or more. But not everyone agreed.
“I
think you’re out of your minds,” said Wailua’s Marge Freeman, regarding the
higher visitor figures. Around 20,000 visitors a day is a realistic target for
2020, she reasons. “That’s what we have now, and we can’t move.”
The
average daily visitor census is thought to be about 19,000 today, up from
around 17,000 in 1998.
Jeff Tarpey, Lihu’e manager for United Airlines and
chair of the Kaua’i Visitors Bureau board of directors, said the DBED numbers
should be adopted for planning purposes, to allow the island to build the
infrastructure necessary to handle the growth forecasted to come to the
island.
That means long-range road construction projects should commence,
adequate maintenance of county and state parks be undertaken, a streamlined
permit system be instituted for those wishing to offer activities to visitors,
and a centralization of tour helicopter operations to Lihu’e Airport take
place, Tarpey said.
“Our fear is that if we’ve underestimated using the
plan’s projections, our island’s infrastructure will not be able to withstand
the growth that is coming,” said Mamo Cummings, president of the Kaua’i Chamber
of Commerce.
“We believe it would be better if we overestimated the average
daily visitor census projections,” she said. “That way, our island’s planners
would be designing and building infrastructure that could sustain a higher
capacity of growth.
“Isn’t that a better, more prepared scenario that we
would want to be facing in 2020?” she asked the Kaua’i Planning Commission at a
public hearing on the Kaua’i General Plan Final Draft at the Kaua’i War
Memorial Convention Hall yesterday.
The final commission public hearing on
the plan is Tuesday, June 20, from 1:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., again at the
convention hall.
Speakers in favor of the higher growth rates surprised
some in the audience of about 20 when they suggested also that the Kaua’i
General Plan back increasing the Lihu’e Airport runway to 8,500 or 10,000 feet
from its current 6,500.
An increase in visitors means a decrease in the
island’s quality of life, period, said Bruce Pleas of Kekaha, who called for an
election to allow the people to approve or reject the Kaua’i General
Plan.
Marge Freeman said she wants to see specific language in the General
Plan allowing the County Council to fund certain ideas for ensuring continued
citizen participation in the General Plan document implementation.
She said
she doesn’t even understand why the airport runway extension is being
discussed, but agreed with most other speakers that the island’s public parks
are severely overused.
Asked by Kaua’i Planning Commission Chair Gary
Baldwin if Tarpey or the KVB would support a system of park user fees to pay
for maintenance of parks, Tarpey responded he would be in favor of such a
system personally, but the board hasn’t formulated a position on the
matter.
There is the risk of becoming “the user-fee island” if the
admission charges are too prevalent or exorbitant, Tarpey said.
Jacquelyn
Schoening of Lihu’e doesn’t want to hear about allowing more visitors to the
island until water and wastewater issues are resolved. Further, no new hotel
permits should be issued, she feels.
Lihu’e should have a central park by
the Kaua’i Veterans Center, and better maintenance of existing park facilities,
she continued. “We have to take care of what we have.”
Peter Herndon,
executive vice president of Eastside landowner Haseko (Hawai’i), Inc., touched
on several issues discussed in the plan, including the need to diversify job
and business opportunities to afford higher-paying jobs to keep the best and
brightest young Kauaians on this island.
This could be accomplished in part
by encouraging businesses to relocate to the island, or at least open up
offices here, he said.
“Providing good jobs and a strong economy do not
have to unduly burden the environment,” said Herndon.
Dispelling the idea
that the island’s hotels make money hand over fist for their owners, Herndon
pointed out that, after paying debt service, very few Kaua’i hotels are
profitable.
Joseph Manini, Sr. voiced his opposition to both the General
Plan and commission, saying the local government is “fraudulent” and “de
facto,” and calling for the return of all lands on Kaua’i and Ni’ihau to their
rightful owners, kanaka maoli.
Charles Trembath of Lihu’e is worried about
what the year 2020 will bring to the island in terms of both resident and
visitor populations.
Look back 20 years and see the changes between 1980
and 2000 to get an idea of the kinds of changes that will take place between
now and 2020, Trembath urged the commission.
“If you don’t know your
history, you’re bound to repeat it,” he said. In the 1970s, the island’s
population was around 25,000. By the 1990s, it was 50,000. Will Kaua’i’s
population double in the next 20 years? It did over the last 20, he
added.
And the jobs created over the last 20 years aren’t, for the most
part, what he’d consider “quality” openings. He has a son making $8 an hour as
a tour guide, and a daughter making $10 an hour as a store clerk.
With
those kinds of wages, home ownership for residents isn’t feasible, unless they
work two or three jobs each, he said.
The island’s roadway system is 30
years behind where it should be, and the fact that the local electric company
is considering building a fossil-fuel-burning power plant is ludicrous, he
said.
“Man, that’s in the dark ages,” Trembath said. In 50 years, there
will be no such thing as a fossil-fuel-burning plant to generate electricity,
because there will be no fossil fuel left, he said.
On a positive note,
Trembath was glad to see language regarding Native Hawaiian rights included in
the plan.
Rich Jasper of the Kapa’a Business Association said his 80-member
group supports the KVB position on visitor numbers, and quick ratification of
the plan.
Alwin Freitas of Niumalu said the proliferation of businesses in
Puhi has made a bypass road out of the street he lives on.
“We’re taking
the traffic” from Puhi, he said. “Hulemalu Road is no longer a quiet, country
road,” although a recent ad for a home for sale in the area describes it as
quaint.
“I don’t think anyone wants uncontrolled growth,” said Nani
Marston, speaking as a Native Hawaiian Kaua’i native parent and employee of
Trex Enterprises.
She and Trex both prefer controlled growth as articulated
in the General Plan, she said.
That allows the community to help shape the
kind of growth they want.
The Kaua’i General Plan Final Draft is available
for review at the island’s public libraries, at the Kaua’i Planning Department
offices in the Lihu’e Civic Center, and at The Garden Island Web site,
www.kauaiworld.com.
