COM 0106.017 2004-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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oing to get worse. Much worse. Further, storm sewers in West Hawaii are wholly inadequate to handle the storm run-off we currently experience during peak storms. Adding roofs, paving and streets to this will only exacerbate this problem. Where are the solutions to Kona's perennial storm flooding problems? The only leadership we experience from Hilo on this subject is leadership in making an unconscionable situation worse. C. Planning Director Chris Yuen wants to solve West Hawaii s extreme traffic problems by adding yet more cars to the urban centers, where over-crowding and gridlock are already the worst. This is public policy that would only the Red Queen would appreciate. He cites "in-filling" as his paradigm of development for West Hawaii, never-minding that "in-filling" has been discredited as an urban planning model for more than thirty years, due to inherent contradictions such as the one raised above. Carter-era policies and solutions may be fine for Hilo, but here in Kona we would like to be a little more forward-thinking. A better solution must be found than putting more cars right in the middle of the traffic jam...this housing development is part of the problem, not an element of the solution, despite the happy faces the developers wear. D. Kealekehe Middle School is full to bursting--I know, I worked in the A+ program there. This developer wants to further overcrowd this and other area schools...how, exactly, is degrading an already bad school system supposed to benefit the community? II. Quality of Life There is no good feeling or intuition among the Mayor's staff for the opinions of West Hawaii residents on quality of life issues in West Hawaii. Mayor Kim stated that Kona has no discernable town center when he sought to create one on the county land in Kealekehe, never-minding that we Konans regularly use the phrase "Downtown" to refer to the area between the post office and the pier. He later came to a meeting about traffic in West Hawaii and grandly informed us that we of West Hawaii do not want any more roads. Imagine our collective astonishment to be informed of these two facts by our mayor. How could we have been so blind and befuddled all these years? The fact is obvious to even the most casual observer that Harry Kim and his staff have no knowledge of, or empathy tor, the feelings, desires and dreams of the residents of West Hawaii in terms of quality of our lives...his only interest appears to be to build as many expensive homes as possible to collect as much property tax as possible to siphon off money to Hilo so those people can have afour-lane highway simply to drive to their zoo. I believe that one should not listen to what a politician says, but rather watch what they do, and the above statement adequately and accurately reflects the sum of Mayor Kim's actions towards the infrastructure deficit in West Hawaii, whether or not he's actually articulated it as policy. In point of fact, many of us live here in Kailua or Keauhou or Kealekekua because we like the suburban-to-rural atmosphere. If we wanted to live in a filthy, crowded little po-dunk town we'd move to Hilo. If we wanted to live in real city we'd move to Honolulu. Before any more subdivisions are made, before any more zonings are changed, I urge the council to take a survey of area residents to find out what the people who already live here and pay taxes here want their community to look like in 20 years...if we leave it up to Kim and Yuen, it'll look, and function, just as bad as Hilo, and wouldn't that be tragic? Let's have a quality of life survey for residents and then constrain the Planning Department to follow its direction. III. Endangered Ecosystems The area proposed for rezoning comprises part of the largest continuous, in-tact, tropical dry-land forest on this island, in this state, in the Pacific Basin and therefore, in the world. Even if the DLNR and the LUC are going to turn their backs on the tragic loss of this essential trove of tropical biodiversity, we of Hawaii County should not. I have seen no documentation or study of the impact of these projects on this endangered ecosystem and urge the Council to defer action on the Bills until such studies are made and evaluated. We owe the residents of West Hawaii, our future generations and people around the world who treasure our unique island more consideration than we have given to past and present development activities in West Hawaii. Let's start with Bills 29, 30, 31 & 32. 2