2024-11-21 Testimony Wildfire Safety Advocates

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WILDFIRE SAFETY General Plan 2045 Comments 46 A WDF.IKO LUA HAVOCA Y✓AT I ES Leeward Planning Commission Nov 21,2024 '. CONTACT:wildfireWaikoloa4gmail.com Criteria for Prioritizing Access Road Projects. At best, only one of the three projects in the Waikoloa area that satisfy the policies in 32h and 32k have the potential to be completed in this decade. We ask that you identify the extension of Kamakoa Drive to Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway as the first priority for three reasons: 1) Kamakoa Drive directly serves the parcels in the north end of the Village where almost all the new development is planned (including the library), 2) the costs born by the public will be lowest of the three projects because of commitments by the landowners, and 3) it will soon be half built because landowners with a vested interest in the on-going developments have submitted permit applications to excavate the right-of-way for a temporary emergency evacuation road that can be upgraded to meet the standards for a dedicated county arterial road. Clearly no second arterial road will be completed and open to traffic before the residential new development is built without public funds. The costs of these projects are significant within the context of both the County CIP budget and the State CIP. The odds of getting two funded during the next 5 years are virtually zero, and the odds of getting the Paniolo extension funded are close to zero without a major infusion of federal $. The Kamakoa Drive extension is the only option that has a reasonable chance of being affordable with available public resources this decade. The economic feasibility of projects should be a critical factor in prioritizing projects. The public cost of extending Kamakoa Dr to Q-K is far less than extending Paniolo to Kawaihae Road. The difference between the two could be as much as $100 million. The land for the Kamakoa extension is being donated by the land owners, they are constructing the initial alignment for the r-o-w, performing the environmental and cultural resource reviews, and there are no stream crossings that require bridges. The Paniolo extension to Kawaihae Road route is more than three times longer, has no commitment from landowners to donate the land, no work is being performed by private sources to lay out, excavate and build a r-o-w, and the route crosses four major gulches requiring expensive bridges. The huge additional cost of the Paniolo route ensures that NO resources will be available to complete it within this decade. Completing the Kamakoa route is at least financially feasible before the Village adds 50% more residents and the