2025-03-07 Cindy Evans Testimony

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5 Pages Waikoloa Policy 3. PROVIDE TRANSPORTATION AND CIRCULATION IMPROVEMENTS IN A TIMELY MANNER, including roadways, bikeways, and pedestrian paths, and with very high priority given to the construction of a second access road connecting Waikoloa Village to Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway.[1] To implement this Policy, the Village Plan adopted "Strategy 3.1 Plan, Fund, and Construct a Second Access Road to Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway."[2] The Plan explained why this road was flagged as a high priority project: A second connecting road to Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway is a top priority, both to accommodate increasing traffic volumes and, perhaps more importantly, to provide a second emergency egress route for Waikoloa residents. If feasible, the new access road should also provide pedes- trian and bicycle facilities. The preferred general alignment for this second access road is shown on the Waikoloa Village Concept Plan graphic. The most significant type of natural disaster that threatens the Waikoloa community is the threat of wildfires. The area's dry climate, combined with the highly flammable introduced vegetation consisting primarily of fountain grass and kiawe trees, and the frequency of high winds make the Waikoloa area especially prone to large-scale wildfires. A 2003 brush fire threatened Waikoloa Village. The fire burned all the way up to the elementary school. Another major fire in August 2005 burned some 20,000 acres to the east and south of Waikoloa Village. That fire burned to the very edge of the Waikoloa Road/Paniolo Avenue intersection, the main intersection in Waikoloa Village. In the case of the 2005 fire, fire fighters were able to control and eventually extinguish the blaze without injuries to people or damage to structures. How- ever, the fire threat is an ever-present danger for the Waikoloa community, and a second ac- cess/egress road may well prove to be the difference between successful evacuation of the Village and injuries and even loss of life. Despite the adoption in 2008 of an action plan that identified the second access road as the highest priority project for Waikoloa Village, the project has not been funded in the CIP, or required to be constructed as a condition for the approval of new residential developments in the Village. Now the Recommended Draft GP completely ignores the Community Development Plan. It does not recognize that the second access road has already been designated through the County Planning process as a "very high priority." Section 6 Implementation describes the Phases of the 2045 Plan. During Phase 1 priority pro- jects are to be implemented. But the GP fails to identify the second road for Waikoloa Village _unnnr ._,hawaii.rr.con 808-938-2954 or evans.kohala(a)gmail.com 808-345-5810