2011-09-27 Water Board Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chairperson Mukai acknowledged that DWS does not have the money to develop it anyway, but asked hypothetically how long it would take for DWS to provide the infrastructure. The Manager-Chief Engineer said a normal well site would take about eight months. Mr. Inaba said for the tank and transmission lines, it would probably take nine months to one year. Chairperson Mukai, acknowledging that the intent of this project is to provide water to the development of the parcels, asked what impact this well would have on the general community. The Manager-Chief Engineer said that whenever additional capacity is put into the system, the entire community benefits from improved reliability of the system. He noted that even if DWS had the money right now, the Department has more important projects to do as a water supply, and would not be spending its money on this project. Mr. Perry asked Mr. Brooks the likelihood that this project will be ready to go a year from now. Mr. Brooks said that he is definitely seeing more movement in the market than there has been in the past couple of years. The excess inventory in the housing market has to be gotten rid of before the market can start to recover. Assuming that conditions improve, it will still be a year to a year and a half out, because Seascape still has to go through the re-zoning process, etc., which takes time. He expressed hopes that in the interim, Seascape can do their portion, and DWS can fulfill their end of the bargain, which would facilitate the availability and commitment of the water units. This will be absolutely necessary for Seascape to actually capitalize on their investment, in working with DWS to create more water in that area. Mr. Taniguchi asked what benefit there is for DWS in buying this site, if Seascape is not there. The Manager-Chief Engineer said it is a benefit because all of the developers in Kona are looking for sites. It is of great benefit to DWS because the site is on the same elevation as the rest of the reservoirs in the area; it fits perfectly into DWS’s system. Developers in the area tend to buy up sites like this faster than DWS can, he added. Mr. Taniguchi asked if another developer could conceivably use the site. The Manager-Chief Engineer said yes, that could happen. Mr. Taniguchi said that if the project does not have its ducks in a row in terms of engineering that Seascape is supposed to do, then the project cannot go forward. He said that by delaying the engineering and the other things that have to be done, it will push things back that much further – even if it is not a priority of DWS’s. He asked what would happen if somebody else came in and wanted to develop the area and wanted water. The Manager-Chief Engineer said he did not understand what Mr. Taniguchi meant by “somebody else.” DWS could not let somebody else use the DWS site. He said that the reason that the staff recommended approving this extension is that DWS is in no position to finance it anyway; the Department has more important things to do. Mr. Taniguchi asked why DWS should extend the agreement for another year, and also asked why DWS does not get the Seascape engineering, etc., done anyway, so that at least those tasks are taken care of. Mr. Brooks explained that Seascape invested about $1.5 million even before they sold the site to DWS for $500,000.00. It was a long, drawn-out process, whereby Seascape had to do all of the engineering, geotechnical and archaeological work, along with the EA, the well testing, etc., to prove that the project would be stable and sound. When it was all said and done, Seascape had invested $1.5 million. Page 7 of 29 9-27-11 ~ Water Board Minutes js