2012-10-18 Leeward Exh B - DPW Laaloa

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WARD: Briefly, just to introduce myself, I’m a past or present member of the La‘aloa Advisory Committee for the Context Sensitive Solution process. I’ve served on the Transportation Commission, Hawai‘i County Highway Safety Council, Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee, currently serve on the Kona CDP Action Committee. There are a few others but those are sort of where my focus is, the transportation issues and how it relates to this particular project. I do support this project in general. It’s an essential component to the Kona CDP, as was pointed out by Brandon. However, several commitments are yet to be met. Within the context of HRS 205A, this project must still ensure adequate access and consistency with the General Plan, and by extension other related laws and more specifically the Kona CDP itself. I encourage this Commission to grant the SMA permit; however, I pray they will not do so without first granting minor amendments that I’ll prescribe below. Access. Currently access to the shoreline for approximately 450 homes served by La‘aloa Avenue is at certain points only 20 feet wide, and will remain so unless additional improvements are made. This 20-foot wide strip of asphalt that’s shared by cars, trucks, as well as kids heading to catch the school bus, folks on their way to Hele On and every pedestrian or bicyclist going to the beach parks or traveling along Ali‘i Drive to reach the shoreline and other areas. Improvements to this narrow roadway to meet County standards have been promised for over 29 years, even if the County assumed the developer’s obligation. And Exhibit 1 is basically just the item I took the liberty of highlighting one of the requirements that was originally made of the developer for Keauhou View Estates, as it was pointed out, and Ali‘i Heights on the side of the Ali‘i Parkway right-of-way. And it clearly indicates that one of the conditions to do all the development was to make sure that the entire road was improved, which has not yet been done. When the County proposed to make this a major collector without any of these improvements included, local residents, as some may recall, were so outraged that the County decided to invest approximately $1.2 million in a Context Sensitive Solutions, CSS, process that would incorporate essential safety considerations along with the necessary provisions for providing access. The result of the CSS process was integrated into the final environmental assessment, and the finding of no significant impact; however two complete phases are not yet part of the proposed plan that is the subject of this particular SMA application. First of all, the CSS process resulted in a recommendation of one alternative for construction – not the three phases that have been proposed, with only one of them being a part of this SMA. Further, when proposed by the administration for their capital improvement program, the CIP, for Fiscal Year 2009-2010, the project data financial impact statement clearly included that all construction, including the improvements to lower La‘aloa, would be done at one time. And I’ve attached Exhibit 2, which highlights, right in the very summary of the environmental assessment, that there is just one alternative for the construction, and that included everything from Ali‘i Drive to Kuakini. The third exhibit is basically just a copy of the notice, and it reflects instead of the one phase promised by the EA, that it’s now broken into three phases. And next we have a copy of the financial impact statement that I referred to, again, highlighting the fact that all construction would be included in a single phase. And it’s very important because this was the document that was incorporated into the budget that the Council later relied on to pass as one of the bond elements, the 56, approximately, million dollars allocating the money that it was being requested to be appropriated. 6 EXHIBIT B