COM 0176.020 2006-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Appendix March 20, 2007 testimony Hawaii Public Works Committee West Hawaii Today -Viewpoint article Lune 1, 2006 Open letter to Dept. of Planning Aloha, We received a notice of application for a Planned Unit Development of 131.663 acres of land known as "Coffee grounds II" one-mile North of Holualoa town. The notice states that they are developing an agricultural subdivision mauka of Mamalahoa Hwy. 40 lots are proposed. Eighteen are already zoned Agriculture lA and the rest into Agriculture SA. Another subdivision, Coffee Grounds 1, is also being developed. The property is being considered for a variance from its zoning usage without public hearing. The County has not facilitated the flood studies that the community requested almost ten years ago. The developer can't know how to accurately identify and mitigate flood prob?ems already occurring in this area. The planning process only holds the developer responsible to not create any more water runoff in project than is existent. The larger question remains: is this area safe to be used as an Ag.l A usage (read residential)? What are the impacts to this community? Over ten yeazs ago, a developer notified the public of his plan for a new subdivision above and North of Holualoa town known as Waiono Meadows. This property also has a history of drainage flooding. The Holualoa/Horseshoe Bend and Waiaha Streams are well known to residents and hydrologists familiar with the area. When news of the development circulated around this rural community, uproar occurred with concerns voiced about changing the flood plain creating great risk to residents. The development was stopped out of that concern. Everything got quiet for about five years and then bulldozing began occurring mauka. Bulldozers could be heard on weekends, holidays, even late into the evenings. Out of concern, several community volunteers formed the Kona Community Action Group to Address Drainage Flooding. We had numerous community meetings held at the Imin Center. Three of these meetings included members of the community and at individual meetings, various important people such as then Civil Defense Administrator Harry Kim, Kona Soil and Water District Board members, a representative from the Federal Natural Resources Conservation Service (MRCS), County Public Works, County Planning Department, Army Corps of Engineers, County Council members and others attended. At some of those meetings over one hundred people were in attendance. The organizers were told by many including Mr. Harry Kim what an important and needed job we were doing in order to save lives and prevent property destruction. The issues presented at those meetings addressed our understanding of what needed to happen in this area in order to identify and mitigate drainage flooding before any further growth. First on the list was to ask the County for a comprehensive flood study of the azeas of Keopu/Heinaole, Waiaha, Holualoa/Horseshoe Bend and Kawnalumalu streams. It is acknowledged by the General Plan that the flood maps for this area used by the County, Kona Soil and Water District, NRCS, etc. are now outdated and largely inaccurate.