HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0159.058 2024-2026/5. Gourd
bill 32
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From: Julee Beckelman
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2025 12:12 PM v r,
To: Council Testimony u' CDs.
CD
Subject: In Support for communication 159A1 to amend Bill No.32, Draft 2
--: --ice
Aloha Chair and Members of the Council,
My name is Julee Beckelman and I'm a Homeowner in Waikoloa Village. I am testifying in support 0
Communication 159.41 to amend Bill No. 32, Draft 2. 1 fully support this amendment for funding the i' itial-R
engineering of Waikoloa's second arterial road.
I understand new funding is being added to the 2025 CIP budget for street paving projects, new parks, and
other amenities that have not been planned for 17 years and ARE NOT flagged by the County plan as a "very
high priority" project needed to prevent the loss of life. Saving lives from catastrophic fires should rank as
a higher priority.
The Attorney General's second report on the Lahaina Fire specifically identifies Waikoloa Village as having a
worse risk of catastrophic wildfire than Lahaina. Since 2008, the population at risk has increased from 5000 to
7500, with new housing to accommodate another 2000+ residents expected by the end of the decade.
Wildfires in Waikoloa have become more frequent and more intense as climate warming has made summer
drought conditions and red flag wind conditions more extreme. During the 2023 Lahaina fire, three wildfires
burned 40,000 acres within sight of Waikoloa Village. By chance, the hurricane winds carried the
conflagrations away from the Village.
During the evacuation ordered by the Mayor in response to the 2021 fire, residents experienced hour-long
delays in traffic seeking to. exit the Village on Waikoloa Road and the Hulu emergency road. Had the fire
burned into the Village, people trapped in traffic could have died in their cars.
A second arterial access highway is needed to save lives. It is not just a traffic convenience.ln 2008, the
County adopted the Waikoloa Village Plan "with very high priority given to the construction of a second
access road connecting Waikoloa Village to Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway."
Seventeen years later, no funding has been committed to implementing this priority.
Waikoloa Village is one of the fastest -growing communities on the Big Island, with housing plans set to double
the population over the next 20 years. No community should have to rely on a single road in an emergency.
Especially not a community as vulnerable to a major wildfire disaster as Waikoloa Village. In 2021, the largest
wildfire in the history of the state burned within 3 miles of the Village. This is a very real danger to our
community.
The 2008 Waikoloa Village Plan explained that "ft]he most significant type of natural disaster that threatens the
Waikoloa community is the threat of wildfires. Mhe fire threat is an ever-present danger for the Waikoloa
community, and a second access/egress road may well prove to be the difference between successful
evacuation of the Village and injuries and even loss of life."
The HI FD Deputy Fire Chief stated that they need another two-lane access route to bring the
equipment and crew from the Puako station to help fight fires approaching or burning into the Village.
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Parents with kids in Waikoloa School who work outside the Village or do not live in the Village will need access
into the Village during fire emergencies to pick up their kids from school. If Waikoloa Road is blocked by fire,
parents will have no access, and children will be trapped without transportation.
Potential buyers of the workforce housing (Na Hale Makoa) now under construction will be exposing
their families to being trapped in a fire miles away from the current access road where they will face
competing with 8000 other residents for a way out. I
Homeowners whose homes survive a catastrophic fire and realtors will not be able to sell anyone's
property in Waikoloa if residents are incinerated in the flames while stuck on the road trying to escape
a fire.
Waikoloa generates about $25 m in RE tax revenue annually ($14.4 m from residential RE, and at least
another $10 m in commercial RE taxes). Building the planned second arterial road will cost about one year of
the real estate tax revenue generated in Waikoloa.
Planned new housing will approximately double the tax base and real estate tax revenues over the next 20
years.
New housing development and a large portion of the current and future RE tax revenue stream will be lost for
decades if a significant portion of the Village is destroyed by fire, losing far more in future revenues than the
road will cost.
In addition to the loss of RE tax revenues, loss of housing in the Village will impose an extreme burden on the
existing housing stock by requiring that as many as 7500 current residents displaced by fire be relocated.
We know you face tough budget decisions, but this is a rare opportunity to prevent disaster rather than react to
it. Your'yes' vote will save lives. We're hopeful that with. your leadership, we can finally move forward in
securing the second road that our community has needed for years.
Thank you for considering this critical amendment. We are counting on your leadership to address our
community's safety needs. We humbly ask for your'yes' vote on this amendment.
Mahalo nui loa for your leadership.
Sincerely,
Julee Beckelman
68-1779 Ho'oko Street
Waikoloa, H196738