2016-07-29 BDHRA Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ironworks. So that’s the State portion. The only other portion of the Hilo Bayfront Trails master plan that is not included in what we talked about, and I’m going to get to Banyan Drive again in a little while, is the section from Ice Pond going to the harbor. That’s the hardest section because that is a CIP type of project where it includes road closures, cutting driveways, dealing with varied gas lines and water lines and electric poles and all that. The County folks have, you know, kind of fast-track their portion of the project and they’re going to probably put out to bid their section from Ice Pond to the harbor ending part of this year. So, you know, with this portion and Banyan Drive that I’m going to come back to, you know, that would complete this whole vision of the Hilo Bayfront Trails to have about six or seven miles of trails connecting 700 acres of park land in and around Hilo. And I really appreciate what you guys are doing and the time you guys are spending to master plan this for the Banyan Drive area because, you know, what we do today is going to just pay back to our community and to our visitors for decades and decades to come. So with respect to the Banyan Drive portion in our master plan, the idea was to align the trail on the golf course side of the existing roadway because there was sufficient right-of- way to put the 12 foot wide trail within the right of way on the County lands. Now, if you folks are contemplating the redevelopment of that whole golf course area, then it presents all kinds of opportunities to have trails that meander through and connect up the various resources there. The one other thing that we, as the board of the Hilo Bayfront Trails, ask that you guys consider since you folks have basically the power of the pen and the idea, you know, the ability to have great ideas put on paper as the plan. Whether or not it’s hard to do, you know‒‒what if you have it as a plan there’s a goal to shoot for. So we suggest, and this is coming from the board of the Hilo Bayfront Trails, that you guys consider closing Lihiwai Street, which runs along, around Lili‘uokalani Park. If you folks remember when the park was first redeveloped, probably about 20 years ago or almost 20 years ago, the‒‒that road was closed for about three or four months I think, after they completed the construction and everybody from Hilo went down there. That was a real magnet, a gathering place where I took my daughter to, you know, go ride bike, and her friends were down there and it was a very safe place that just really drew everyone down there. So the area I’m talking about is from the parking lot at Isles to Coconut Island driveway. That was closed and everybody walked around and around the park and, you know, took their kids down to the ocean side, so would you guys at least consider that. And then another thing too, while you guys are in the mode of master planning, consider the possibility of going from Coconut Island driveway and having a public path along the ocean side in front of the hotels; in front of Hilo Hawaiian and in front of Naniloa Hotel. I know some people say, ‘Oh you know, it’s hard because it’s really tight in front of Naniloa’ but if it’s on a master plan, you know, it’s a possibility. And there’s a possibility of cantilevered walkways, and you guys have on your master plan that makai Page 5 of 20 Banyan Drive Hawai‘i Redevelopment Agency July 28, 2016 Minutes