HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0106.017 2004-2006 Robello, Alfred
From: Donnie MacGowan [dr.blizzardo@mad.scientist.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 2:24 PM , „ ;
To: counciltestimony @ co . hawaii . hi . us; Isbell, Virginia ~:.:J I ~i',~ 1 I~~
Cc: joshuaboothgreen@yahoo.com
Subject: Testimony: Public Hearing on the proposed Pualani Makai development ktoject
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To: Hawaii County Council J
From Dr. Donald B. MacGowan
Date: 11 April, 2005
re: Testimony, Public Hearing on the proposed Pualani Makai development project Q
In regards to the proposal to rezone 2 separate 14+ acre parcels along Kuakini Hwy. m
to allow for Village Commercial and 350 Residential Units, Homes and Rental Apts. (Suffolk Investment, LLC and Pua' ~ ~ `o
Development, LLC -Bills 29, 30, 31 & 32), I should like to make the following points: ~ r o
I. Infrastructure V o~c o~
The current state of all infrastructure in West Hawaii is in deplorable condition, a fact no credible party denies. This
development will greatly and universally adversely affect and further degrade the infrastructure of our schools, our roads,
our sewers and our water supply.
A. Of primary concern to me is the state of our public water supply and its future. Current drinking water reserves and
resources are over-extended and the delivery systems over-taxed and poorly planned; there is no cohesive overall plan,
rhyme nor reason to the system--it is an international embarrassment that no one seems willing to address.
Further, no study has yet been performed on the quantity and quality of aquifer water available for future exploitation in
West Hawaii, so there is no real knowledge of how much water will be available for development to serve growing
populations and to service existing populations as currently exploited reserves are depleted. It should be noted that
coastal aquifers currently being exploited are so depleted that the water being used as public water supply is so salty that it
is an extreme hazard to people on low-sodium, restricted diets. The World Health Organization would not certify the public
water system in Hawaii County.
The public water supply infrastructure is that bad...and adding any, especially this particular, development to it, is
unenlightened policy in the extreme.
People tend to think of fresh water supply as inexhaustible and take it for granted. However, every great desert civilization
(as is West Hawaii) from the Assyrians to the Anasazi collapsed due to loss or pollution of their water supply. In modern-
day Jordan,
Oman, Saudi Arabia and Syria the experience is one of neat total collapse due to water shortages brought about by
unenlightened policies towards growth and water supply management. This is the future that awaits West Hawaii in the
coming decades (sooner than you think) if no action is taken to aggressively attack this singular problem.
Terri Shiavo lived 12 days resting in an air conditioned room in bed without water...how long will the residents of West
Hawaii last under our tropical sun? More to the point, what will happen to property values and therefore tax revenues,
when the water becomes even more polluted and scarce? This can be avoided by beginning enlightened policy and
planning today.
B. Our sewers are over-loaded and over-taxed. Raw sewage cascades out of the system and into the ocean at Old Airport
Beach Park, an extreme health hazard that is going virtually unaddressed. Adding further housing developments without
concurrently repairing and upgrading existing sewer and water treatment facilities as well as building new facilities to
handle greater burden brought on by new construction is inviting disaster of horrendous proportion.
Imagine what life will be like when our county planners allow our sewers to become as degraded and overcrowded as they
have allowed our roads to become.
It is inconceivable that credible planning personnel would condone this insane policy, but that is exactly what our Planning
Office is doing. Then they snow the public with bull while our children get sick boogy-boarding at Old Airport. And it is only
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oing to get worse. Much worse.
Further, storm sewers in West Hawaii are wholly inadequate to handle the storm run-off we currently experience during
peak storms. Adding roofs, paving and streets to this will only exacerbate this problem.
Where are the solutions to Kona's perennial storm flooding problems? The only leadership we experience from Hilo on
this subject is leadership in making an unconscionable situation worse.
C. Planning Director Chris Yuen wants to solve West Hawaii s extreme traffic problems by adding yet more cars to the
urban centers, where over-crowding and gridlock are already the worst. This is public policy that would only the Red
Queen would appreciate.
He cites "in-filling" as his paradigm of development for West Hawaii, never-minding that "in-filling" has been discredited as
an urban planning model for more than thirty years, due to inherent contradictions such as the one raised above.
Carter-era policies and solutions may be fine for Hilo, but here in Kona we would like to be a little more forward-thinking. A
better solution must be found than putting more cars right in the middle of the traffic jam...this housing development is part
of the problem, not an element of the solution, despite the happy faces the developers wear.
D. Kealekehe Middle School is full to bursting--I know, I worked in the A+ program there. This developer wants to further
overcrowd this and other area schools...how, exactly, is degrading an already bad school system supposed to benefit the
community?
II. Quality of Life
There is no good feeling or intuition among the Mayor's staff for the opinions of West Hawaii residents on quality of life
issues in West Hawaii. Mayor Kim stated that Kona has no discernable town center when he sought to create one on the
county land in
Kealekehe, never-minding that we Konans regularly use the phrase "Downtown" to refer to the area between the post
office and the pier. He later came to a meeting about traffic in West Hawaii and grandly informed us that we of West
Hawaii do not want any more roads.
Imagine our collective astonishment to be informed of these two facts by our mayor. How could we have been so blind and
befuddled all these years?
The fact is obvious to even the most casual observer that Harry Kim and his staff have no knowledge of, or empathy tor,
the feelings, desires and dreams of the residents of West Hawaii in terms of quality of our lives...his only interest appears
to be to build as many expensive homes as possible to collect as much property tax as possible to siphon off money to
Hilo so those people can have afour-lane highway simply to drive to their zoo.
I believe that one should not listen to what a politician says, but rather watch what they do, and the above statement
adequately and accurately reflects the sum of Mayor Kim's actions towards the infrastructure deficit in West Hawaii,
whether or not he's actually articulated it as policy.
In point of fact, many of us live here in Kailua or Keauhou or Kealekekua because we like the suburban-to-rural
atmosphere. If we wanted to live in a filthy, crowded little po-dunk town we'd move to Hilo. If we wanted to live in real city
we'd move to Honolulu.
Before any more subdivisions are made, before any more zonings are changed, I urge the council to take a survey of area
residents to find out what the people who already live here and pay taxes here want their community to look like in 20
years...if we leave it up to Kim and Yuen, it'll look, and function, just as bad as Hilo, and wouldn't that be tragic?
Let's have a quality of life survey for residents and then constrain the Planning Department to follow its direction.
III. Endangered Ecosystems
The area proposed for rezoning comprises part of the largest continuous, in-tact, tropical dry-land forest on this island, in
this state, in the Pacific Basin and therefore, in the world. Even if the DLNR and the LUC are going to turn their backs on
the tragic loss of this essential trove of tropical biodiversity, we of Hawaii County should not. I have seen no
documentation or study of the impact of these projects on this endangered ecosystem and urge the Council to defer action
on the Bills until such studies are made and evaluated.
We owe the residents of West Hawaii, our future generations and people around the world who treasure our unique island
more consideration than we have given to past and present development activities in West Hawaii. Let's start with Bills
29, 30, 31 & 32.
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We need to address where we as a community see ourselves in 20 years, and what we want our community to look like,
how we would like it to function. If tourism is our life's-blood, why are we killing the very things--solitude, open space, rare
and treasured ecosystems--that most tourists come to experience? It's time we held our politicians accountable to follow
our desires in planning and development so that we don't wind-up looking like aHilo-municipal annex, or worse... a mini-
Southern California, which is where we are headed today.
Our jobs, our children and our quality of life depend upon it.
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