2008-09-19 TOHANAKOHALA - Laserfiche WebLink

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Opportunities: The Ohana Kohala Trust rezoning will impact the immediate neighborhood, as well as a large portion of Kohala Estates, and, at the same time, offers a variety of unique opportunities for the applicant, for Kohala Estates and for the County of Hawaii. 1. Fire protection. Historically, the project site, located in the eastern corner of Kohala Estates, has had the area’s poorest fire protection, with the fewest hydrants and limited access for fire equipment. Unfortunately, this corner of Kohala Estates was the entry route of our largest fire in December 1993. What was later termed a “firestorm” raged for days, was fought by fire companies from the entire Big Island, other islands, and the military, and by the time it was over, had burned several homes, thousands of acres, and cost millions to fight. As a result, the Kohala Coast Volunteer Fire Company 14 Alpha was formed by area residents, including my husband and myself. The proposed roadway and hydrants to be located on Lot 41 will greatly increase our firefighting abilities. 2. Underground utilities. The adjoining Lot 42, located directly mauka of the project site, has an overhead utility system with transformers which have caused sparks and fire hazard in high wind situations. The proposed project is planned for underground utilities on Lot 41. With some pre-planning, and cooperation amongst neighbors, the Lot 41 system could be designed to include hookup points for the Lot 42 owners, most of whom built near their makai boundaries anyway. The tradeoff would be that the Lot 42 owners would remove the mauka pole-line, thereby reducing the fire hazard. Owing to the fact that the major owner of Ohana Kohala Trust also owns the Kohala Ranch lands mauka of Lot 42, and added benefit would be restoration of the ocean views from Kohala Ranch. For these reasons, I supported this project in the past, on a non-paid volunteer basis and on the behalf of the owners, with a March 7, 2001 time extension request to the Planning Department. 3. Access over Easement 76 and Lot 41. Easement 76, running down the southeast side of Kohala Estates from Lot 40 down to the boundary with Kohala by the Sea, leads to the Kohala Estates roadway through Lot 41. Many Kohala Estates owners, including myself, have access to the Kohala Estates roadway through Lot 41, so the proposed improved access over the large gulches will increase our ability to use our access for potential recreational purposes, for example, such as a large loop trail, as well as the obvious fire protection the new road will provide for our properties. 4. Compliance with the nearly final Community Development Plan. The proposed project could demonstrate adherence to the principles outlined in the Pre-final June 18, 2008 North Kohala Community Development Plan, page 84 Strategy 4.8 Rural Infrastructure: “…. Neighborhood low speed roads with drainage down the center of previous pavement (preventing shoulder erosion), runoff routed to sedimentation ponds, road design following the contours of the terrain EXHIBIT A 10