HomeMy WebLinkAboutPaxton, Jerry
Tsuneda, Kaci
From:JERRY & MERCEDES PAXTON <jerry.paxton@comcast.net>
Sent:Wednesday, September 9, 2026 4:26 PM
To:Council Testimony
Subject:Testimony in OPPOSITION to Bills 186 and 187 (Applicant: Waikoloa Green LLC)
Aloha Councilmembers,
My name is Jerry Paxton and I am a resident of Waikōloa Village.
I am writing in opposition to Bills 186 and 187. I am not opposed to housing. Waikōloa needs more homes,
including affordable homes. I am asking you to withhold approval until the County has funded, scheduled
commitments for the infrastructure that keeps residents safe during a wildfire, starting with a second access
road.
Waikōloa Village has one road in and out for nearly 7,000 residents. The County's 2008 Community
Development Plan named a second access road a very high priority. During the 2021 Mana fire evacuation,
residents sat in traffic for over an hour just to reach Waikōloa Road, and our population was smaller then. The
state Attorney General's Lāhainā investigation rated Waikōloa's wildfire risk higher than any other place in
the country. Adding hundreds of homes before a second road exists puts current and future residents in
danger.
Water supply during a fire is part of the same concern. When wildfire threatens the Village, firefighters
depend on a water system that can deliver when it matters most. We have raised the reliability of that supply
during emergencies with the Public Utilities Commission, and it remains an open question there in the
ongoing Act 258 rulemaking. Before approving more growth, the Council should examine whether the water
system can meet firefighting demand during an emergency across all of the development planned for the
Waimea Aquifer, not this project alone.
The same risk reaches our children. Waikōloa Elementary and Middle School has no buses on site during the
school day, so in a fast-moving fire, students depend on the same single road as everyone else. The County's
Community Development Plan recognized the need for a second school as the Village grows, yet it named the
second road a community priority even before a second school. The road has to come first.
Please do not approve Bills 186 and 187 until these infrastructure needs are met with real commitments,
funding, and a timeline, not just plans. Housing and safe infrastructure should move forward together.
Mahalo nui,
Jerry Paxton
68-3561 Haena St
Waikoloa, HI 96738
1