Two conflicting visions for a 70-acre site in Holualoa, on the west side of the Big Island, were brought before the Hawaiʻi County Council for consideration last month.
On August 7, the council approved a resolution to authorize negotiations for the acquisition of, or a conservation easement over, the land, which was zoned for housing in the early 1980s. Nearly 100 people testified in support of the measure, which passed on a 6-3 vote.
On August 21, the council agenda included the third draft of a bill that would give new life to the zoning designation that would allow up to 450 units of housing to be built on the site. The development would complete the Kona Vistas project, which was first approved by the county and the state Land Use Commission in 1984.
A vote on that bill was postponed, subject to the call of the chair.
Should the council eventually approve the rezoning bill, it would not mean that acquisition of the land by the county would be off the table. The rezoning would, however, likely make it more valuable and almost certainly increase the cost to the county of acquiring it for preservation.
What the council did approved on August 21, on an 8-1 vote, was a motion that calls for the council to conduct a visit of sites adjacent to the area proposed for development in order that members have a better understanding of environmental and cultural concerns raised by community members.
No date has been set for the tour, described as a limited meeting at which members of the public are not allowed to attend. The state Sunshine Law, specifically Section 92-3.1, does give the council authority to conduct limited meetings when circumstances make it impractical for members of the public to attend.
The motion for the site visit was introduced by Council Member Rebecca Villegas, who represents the Kona area where the development is proposed. Council Chair Heather Kimball described how she and county attorneys had been in touch with the state Office of Information Practices to ensure that the proposed tour would not be in violation of the Sunshine Law. She explained that the tour would include stops along the shoulders of highways and roads and would pose a hazard if members of the public were to be able to follow along. She stated that every effort would be taken to allow testimony before the tour commenced and the tour itself would be documented by videotape.
Villegas has made no secret of her opposition to the rezoning bill. It was she who proposed the county negotiate with owner Kona Three, LLC, to protect the area from development, using the county’s Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Protection (PONC) Fund. At the time the resolution was considered in the council’s Legislative Approvals and Acquisition Committee, on July 23, Daryn Arai, planning consultant for the developer, said his client took no position on the resolution.
New testimony in support of protecting the area by purchase with PONC funds was provided by the Kona Soil and Water Conservation District. In a letter July 2 to the county directors of Public Works and Planning, Jeff Knowles, the chair of the agency, wrote, “These parcels are traversed by flood corridors across both the northern and southern portions of the property and currently function to infiltrate stormwater, thus recharging aquifers, reducing sedimentation of reefs and pollution of coastal water.” Knowles suggested that they tour the site “to see the value in designating a ‘Kona Floodway Park’ that would benefit the community, as well as creating a safer watercourse.”
A week later, Mary Roblee, conservation assistant for the Kona SWCD, wrote to the same county officials, providing additional information to boost the case for protecting the area. “When we consider climate change, and the atmosphere’s ability to hold greater and greater volumes of water, we can see from world events what happens when the atmosphere decides to release that water. Hawaiʻi island is not immune from the devastating events we have seen around the world, and creating riparian forest areas will help address this increase in rainfall.”
Although the two letters from the Kona SWCD were dated in early July, the Planning Department did not apparently receive them until July 25. The letters weren’t forwarded to the council until August 6.
Members of the community who oppose the development have continued to come out in force, with both written and oral testimony. For many of those testifying on August 21, it was the fourth or fifth time that they had spoken out against the project, going back all the way to December 2022, when the county’s Leeward Planning Commission had its first hearing on the proposal.
No representative of Kona Three, LLC, which is proposing the development, testified at the August hearings.
In the discussion on whether to postpone a vote on the rezoning bill, Council Member Holeka Goro Inaba, who has been working closely with the developer in an effort to address community concerns, had a message for the developer.
Take advantage of the delay, he said. “In light of the postponement,” he said, “I would ask the applicants in the meantime to really consider areas where this request could be improved, specifically around affordable housing. … There is a lot of room for improvement in what’s being requested. Take this time and use it wisely.”
— Patricia Tummons
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