HomeMy WebLinkAboutAshton, Cecelia
Tsuneda, Kaci
From:Cece <one4cece2@aol.com>
Sent:Friday, September 11, 2026 5:53 PM
To:Council Testimony
Subject:Opposition to Bills 186 & 187
Aloha Councilmembers,
My name is Cecelia Ashton and I am a resident in 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. ONE traffic accident on
Waikoloa Rd. would shut down one lane immediately preventing a timely
evacuation. Currently we were told at the traffic study meeting that it would take 4 hours to
evacuate the Village.
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 principal of the school spoke at the traffic study meeting and said that there are
approximately 700 students who would need transportation in order to evacuate!
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Parents who work outside of the village would be trying to get back to the village on Waikoloa Rd
adding to the traffic.
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,
Cecelia Ashton
68-1756 Alana Pl.
Waikoloa, Hi. 96738
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