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surrounding aeeas due to its location away from a major highway. There is currently only one access road, Waikoloa Road that connects Waikoloa Village to other areas in the district. A third key location in the district is the Kawaihae area_ Although sparsely populated, the Kawaihae area is home to the only recreational small boat harbor in northwest Hawaii and the only commercial harbor in West Hawaii. The harbor area is a major transportation and activity node, handling both traffic generated from harbor activities and traffic from North Kohala, Waimea, and the resort areas that must al] pass through the,Kawaihae area at the intersection of the Queen Kaahumanu Highway, Akoni Pule Highway, and the Kawaihae Road. Three large destination resorts are located along the Queen Kaahumanu Hwy. The Mauna Kea Resort, Mauna Lani Resort, and the Waikoloa Resort are situated along South Kohala's coastline. Each resort node consists of lazge- scale, high-end hotels, shops, restaurants, and high-end residential units. Just north of the Mauna Lani Resort is the small residential coastal village of Puako. Today Puako mainly consists ofsingle-family homes that have been built along either side of Puako Beach Drive. A significant number of single family homes aze operated as vacation rentals in Puako. The village is also home to the historic Hokuloa Church, founded more than a century and a half ago by the Reverend Lorenzo Lyons. The Puako Petroglyph Field is located between the Mauna Lani Resort and the Puako Beach Lots. The key planning implications related to South Kohala's physical setting include: • South Kohala is a large land area -Providing adequate public services and infrastructure over such a large area will be challenging. • The physical settings and development patterns throughout the district are diverse and distinct -There are several regions in the district that have unique features both physically and in the way that the regions have developed over time. The CDP recognizes the unique qualities in these regions and does not plan for the district in a "one-size fits all" approach. SOUTH KOHALA YESTERDAY: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Anthropologists and archaeologists estimate that the first settlers arrived in the South Kohala region sometime between 750-1000 AD. The warm coast and beaches on the western boundaries of the South Kohala district were used seasonally by early Polynesians who eventually migrated to the cooler plateau. Descendents of these early Polynesian explorers established fishing villages on the leeward coast of the district and along the western extremities of the plains and began cultivating lo'i kalo terraces along a series of streams at the southern base of the Kohala Mountains. Construction of the Waimea field system may have involved clearing and burning of the native forest. South Kohala, in particular Kawaihae and Waimea, was an important political region on the Island of Hawaii. Many high ranking Alii regularly visited the area and held court here even up to the time of Kamehameha and his son Liholiho. (Clazk, 1986) Towards the mid 19th century and on into the 20th century, the district was heavily influenced by the paniolo way of life. Toward the latter half of the 20th century, the development of three world class resorts in the district shifted the.district's economic base from agriculture to 8