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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Pete Hoffmann, Chairman <br /> and Members of the County Council <br /> Page 2 <br /> <br /> Ordinance No. 96 7 and Condition L(4) of Ordinance No. 96 8. These ordinances, which <br /> cover what is now called the Hokuli'a project, required the developer to build the <br /> Mamalahoa Bypass Highway from Keauhou to Napo'opo'o, and to extend Haleki'i Street <br /> to connect with it. The ordinances stated, however, that use of Haleki'i Street as a <br /> connection to the Mamalahoa Bypass should not be allowed until the Bypass was <br /> completed to Napo'opo'o. The reason for this was to limit the amount of through-traffic <br /> on Haleki'i Street until the completion of the road to Napo'opo'o, so that much of the <br /> traffic on the Mamalahoa Bypass would use the southern Napo'opo'o intersection, which <br /> is located near the current junction of the Napo'opo'o Road and the Mamalahoa Highway <br /> (Hawaii Belt Road). <br /> <br /> The Mamalahoa Bypass Highway is currently completed almost to the Haleki'i <br /> Street intersection, and it is expected that the physical connection of Haleki'i Street to the <br /> Mamalahoa Bypass can be completed and be usable by the public in April 2008. The <br /> further extension to Napo'opo'o, while still an obligation of the Hokuli'a developer, and <br /> which is secured by a bond agreement, has an uncertain timeline because of the resistance <br /> of one landowner (Coupe) to the acquisition of property necessary to complete the right- <br /> of-way, and the necessity to construct approximately two miles of additional roadway <br /> from Haleki'i Street to Napo'opo'o, and the new intersection with the Mamalahoa <br /> Highway. <br /> <br /> In the meantime, the Mamalahoa Bypass, which parallels the Mamalahoa <br /> Highway for more than three miles from Keauhou to Haleki'i Street, cannot be used <br /> <br /> despite severe traffic congestion on the Mamalahoa Highway, because of the conditions <br /> of Ordinance Nos. 96 7 and 96 8. The County administration believes that opening the <br /> Mamalahoa Bypass to Haleki'i Street will help ease the traffic problems on the <br /> Mamalahoa Highway in North and South Kona. The Planning Director, in coordination <br /> with the Department of Public Works, is therefore initiating this proposed change to <br /> Ordinance Nos. 96 7 and 96 8. The bills with the proposed changes are attached as <br /> Exhibits No. 1 and 2. Exhibit 3 is an overall map which shows the areas covered by <br /> rezoning Ordinances Nos. 96 7 and 96 8, Haleki'i Street and the Mamalahoa Bypass <br /> Highway. (See attached Background/Recommendation Report.) <br /> <br /> Although these proposed amendments cover only the Haleki'i Street connection to <br /> the Bypass Highway, some discussion of the history of the Hokuli'a project is relevant to <br /> understanding the delays in the completion of the Bypass Highway. Ordinance No. 96 7 <br /> rezoned a large area in North and South Kona from Unplanned (U) to Agricultural I-acre <br /> (A-la). Ordinance No. 96 8 amended Ordinance No. 94 73, which had earlier rezoned a <br /> large adjoining area in North and South Kona from Unplanned (U) and Agricultural-5 <br /> acre (A-5a) to Agricultural, A- Ia. One of the conditions of the 1996 rezonings required <br />