COM 0438.021 2002-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Aloha and good evening. I'm Joel Gimpel, Public Affairs chair for the Kona Traffic Safety Committee. Because our comments and concerns regarding this project were presented to the Planning Commission last November and are a part of the record, I' II merely summarize the major points. First, this relatively small project cannot be viewed by itself, in a vacuum. Although the applicant proposes only 43 lots, access to the project will involve Hienaloli-Kahului Road and Nani Kailua Drive, which is the only access to Highway 19 for Kona Heights and Kailua View Estates. Furthermore, as you will hear or have already heard, the applicant appears to be circumventing legal requirements by listing projects on adjoining properties under different, but related names. Piecemeal approvals of small, "adjoining" projects will certainly lead to wrong conclusions of adverse impacts, and the sum ofthose individual project impacts will create a very different picture of effects on the communities in the vicinity and on the transportation infrastructure. And when all "little project" impacts from Keahole to Keauhou are added together, the sum will be fearsome! I note also that because those projects have been small in scale, this is the third rezone in the area without a traffic study in less than two years. Nevertheless, there are now 75 homes, with many more anticipated, using Nani Kailua Drive. That road, however, is too steep to be a Legal collector road (the grade may be no more than 10%), and the area residents are already trying to deal with traffic, safety, speeding, and noise concerns. More cars, school buses, commercial and construction traffic generated by this project will simply mean more problems that must be addressed before development begins, not after. Second, the applicant states that he is working with nearby landowners to create a new (second) collector to Highway 19, south of the Nani Kailua intersection. Access to this new collector from the proposed development will require construction of a new road across the old railroad right-of--way, which should be a condition of approval. But this, even if accomplished, which we doubt, will not help those persons desiring to travel north on Highway 19, toward Kailua-Kona. They'll still use Nani Kailua Drive. Further, another access to Highway 19 will probably require signalization, to assure safety. In view of these and other issues, the Kona Traffic Safety Committee urges that the County require the applicant to provide the necessary road infrastructure before home construction commences as a condition for approval. That infrastructure should include a primary collector road with necessary signalization north, rather than south, of the development, and improvements to Hienaloli-Kahului Road to Nani Kailua Drive. Further, use of Nani Kailua Drive by construction traffic should be limited until the new collector road is completed, and then prohibited. Thank you for your attention. I'll be pleased to answer questions you may have.