COM 0320.004 1996-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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" RECfIV® J u l y 2 2, 19 9 7 ilme..---- By--- . Dear County Council , Coun4y Council Is there an identifiable plan for what is now referred to as Keasu Town9 Nearly all traces of Old Keaau Village hsve been erased with only haphazard input from the town's residents and from those who consider Keaau "their main town". Yet W.H. Shipman has a community advisory board now that has been meeting. How does one give input and receive information from their meetings Where is the public notice of their plans`t This might facilitate understanding snd relieve anxiety over future changes. I would like to provide a short history of my attempt to give input into the Keaau plan aild the resultant difficulties encountered. When my family attended the Puns Hongwsnji, my children went to Keki Kollege Preschool, snd we shopped in Kesau frequenting the old village for it's coffee shops, restsursnts and local businesses, I too considered Keaau my main town. I attended a town meeting where a broad plan was laid out that included the possibilities of bike paths and the re-creation of the old village with new construction- After that meeting, the planner told me 'if the numbers don't match up, bike paths will be the first to go, and; you can bu>.ld any kind of building, as long as you landscape it right it will be fine.' With a shocked expression, I responded, 'You ]ust mislead this whole room full of people'. Attempts to have the historic signifigance of the old village evaluated so that restorable historic sites could be considered for restoration and artifacts could be salvaged, resulted in anger, negative reaction and polarization. There was then no chance far a rational assessment of the situation. To this day historic sites on the Big Island are being lost to bulldozers daily with no evaluation, photography or salvage attempts. In Keaau, I was naive in thinking that my ideas would be welcome. Hawaiians got involved to speak for the human rights of small businesses (some that had been owners of buildings on Shipman land far nearly a century), residents who would be made homeless with no provisions, and the historical importance of the site. Many of these things were possibly overlooked by the owners and planners. The 'NO' reaction sent Hawaiians filing court papers that allowed them to take residence in the town for thirteen months. They waited for the Historic Preservation Division sled Hoard to defend the site. These public servants, so used to seeing the historic sites of Hawaii squandered, were unable to convice the owners of the land to preserve snd preferred to sviod a contested esse hesring. The Hawaiians still have sn active court case ~~lsiming sll of the shapusa of ]ieasu. There is little left of that old village that was once all extensive community. Several lsrge buildings remsin standing that could become historic sites with merely s nod from the aW11ex'E . I give this little history of the demise of ]ieaau now, because again, residents do not know how to access the planning ©nY~r 1iq X20. 0~ ~y r.. 7R F IRet Presented PW • PG Ref. Date 2 7 1997