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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-07-27 KCDP AC Letter to DPW - Invitation to AC Meeting and Request for UpdatesCounty of Hawai‘i KONA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE Aupuni Center • 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 • Hilo,96720 (808) 961-8288 • Fax (808) 961-8742 www.planning.hawaiicounty.gov planning@hawaiicounty C. Kimo Alameda, Ph.D. John Pelletier, Chair Raymond Kirchner Vacant Shane Palacat-Nelsen Charles Young Nancy Pisicchio, Vice Chair Charla Thompson Vacant Roselyn Molina July 27, 2026 Wesley Segawa, P.E., Director Department of Public Works 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 7 Email: public_works@hawaiicounty.gov Dear Director Segawa: SUBJECT: Invitation to Provide an Update on the Kahului-Keauhou Parkway and Lako Street Extension The Kona Community Development Plan (CDP) Action Committee respectfully invites you, or an appropriate designee from the Department of Public Works, to attend an upcoming Kona CDP Action Committee meeting and provide an update on the status of the Kahului-Keauhou Parkway, known as the Ali i Parkway, and the Lako Street Extension. These two transportation corridors have long been identified as important components of Kona’s roadway network. The Committee and the broader Kona community would appreciate an update regarding the current status of each project, including any completed or ongoing planning and design work, anticipated funding needs, implementation challenges, and potential next steps. The 2008 Kona Community Development Plan recognized the seriousness of Kona’s transportation challenges, stating: “Traffic congestion in Kona is bad and grows worse with time. The congestion is fueled by rapid growth and exacerbated by the road network, land use patterns, and dependence on the automobile. Road improvements have not kept pace with development. Poor management of past development has eliminated or compromised future roadway corridor options.” (Section 4.1, Transportation, Kona CDP) Wesley Segawa, P.E., Director Department of Public Works July 27, 2026 Page 2 www.planning.hawaiicounty.gov planning@hawaiicounty The Kona CDP Transportation Study identified both the Kahului-Keauhou Parkway and the Lako Street Extension as priority transportation corridors intended to help address significant deficiencies in Kona’s roadway system. Eighteen years have passed since the Kona CDP was adopted, and the traffic conditions described in the plan have continued to worsen. The Committee believes that a public update from the Department of Public Works would help community members better understand the present status of these corridors, the obstacles affecting their advancement, and whether there are opportunities to move either project forward. We would be grateful for your participation, or that of a departmental representative, at an upcoming meeting. Planning Department staff can assist with identifying an available meeting date and coordinating presentation arrangements. Please contact the Long Range Division’s Community Planning section at CDP@hawaiicounty.gov. Mahalo for your consideration and for the Department’s continued service to the Kona community. John Pelletier, Chair Kona Community Development Plan Action Committee JH \\hawaiicounty.gov\depts\PL\PL\planning\public\wpwin60\CDP\CDP - Kona\Action Committee\Meetings\2026\2026 Letters Attachment: Kona CDP Action Committee Communication No. 2021-03: Aliʻi Parkway Investigatory Subcommittee Report cc: Jeffrey Darrow, Planning Director Bethany Morrison, Long Range Planning Program Manager Mitchell D.Roth F"'w; • Zendo Kern Mayor Director Lee E.Lord s•r Jeffrey W. DarrowManagingDirectorDeputyDirector 7r•Of H,J .. West Hawaii Office East Hawaii Office 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Hwy 101 Pauahi Street,Suite 3 Kailua-Kona,Hawai'i 96740 County of Hawal 1 Hilo,Hawaii 96720 Phone(808) 323-4770 Phone(808)961-8288 Fax(808)327-3563 PLANNING DEPARTMENT Fax( 808)961-8742 KONA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE COH PLANNING DEPTMay26, 2021 MAY 23 2021 AH8:37 Zendo Kern Planning Department County of Hawai`i Dear Director Kern: SUBJECT: Alii Parkway Investigatory Subcommittee Report At its March 22, 2021, meeting, the Kona CDP Action Committee voted to approve the Alii Parkway Investigatory Subcommittee's report and forward it to the Planning Director. This subcommittee was formed in 2018 to evaluate alternative solutions to the County-proposed two-lane multimodal design with open spaces, and to consult with the lineal and cultural descendants from the Kahului-Keauhou region to include their voice in the subcommittee's evaluation. In the attached report, the Kona CDP AC re-states its support for the Ali`i Parkway Project to be included in an upcoming CIP budget and makes recommendations for continued consultation with the lineal descendants in the area, inclusion of open space considerations, incremental phasing, and updating the traffic study and archaeological survey. Please refer to the attached report for a fuller description. We respectively request that this report be further communicated to County of Hawaii Departments that have a direct impact on the decision making regarding the scoping, planning, and implementation of the Ali`i Parkway Project. In addition, we respectively request that a CIP item be included in an upcoming budget submission for the feasibility and preliminary design studies for this project, as detailed in the letter dated December 5, 2016 to Director Kanuha (see attached). Per our understanding, this project was last included in Ord. 02-77 under appropriation number 5396.46 (Kahului-Keauhou Parkway) but it has subsequently lapsed. Although advocated in our letter dated December 5, 2016, to previous Director Kanuha,we are unaware of its inclusion in an approved budget ordinance from that date forward. The Kona CDP Action Committee welcomes the opportunity to engage with you on the importance of this project to alleviate traffic congestion in the Kona area, and to ensure the involvement of lineal descendants and community voices to integrate the cultural and historical significance of the land and www.planning.hawaiicounty.gov Hawaii County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer planninufa hawaiicountv.gov I42000 Communication No. 2021-03 Mr. Zendo Kern, Director Planning Department May 26, 2021 Page 2 the need for open spaces. We look forward to working with you on this issue with coordination through Keiko Mercado,Long Range Division Planner. Sincerely, Cad'f Charles Young(May 27,242107:40 HST) CHARLES YOUNG, Chair Kona Community Development Plan Action Committee cc: Maile Medeiros David,Councilmember, District 6; Rebecca Villegas,Councilmember, District 7 Communication No. 2019-26 Sub-committee on Ali`i Parkway Report October 15, 2019 Background information regarding the/Mil Parkway sub-committee Back in 2017, the Kona Community Development Planning Action Committee (KCDPAC)was tasked to recommend a prioritized Capital Improvement Project (CIP) list to the Planning Director. One of the top three choices was the traffic and safety concerns and how it played into the quality of life for commuters between South to North Kona. Instead of creating new projects, the KCDPAC thought to use an existing project such as Ali'i Parkway that still had funding sources attached to it. Therefore, the KCDPAC agreed to recommend the Ali'i Parkway Project, to which the Planning Director vetted to the Mayor. In paraphrasing the Mayor's Office, due to the initial community response regarding the archaeology sites that stalled the project, the Mayor will consider resurfacing the Ali`i Parkway Project if the community concerns regarding the archaeology sites were revisited. Aside from traffic and safety concerns, the discussion among KCDPAC members now included the families who are connected to the archaeology sites. Also mentioned were possible alternatives that would possibly downsize the Parkway to a two-lane road to avoid archaeological sites, and increase open-space and access to the sites for lineal and cultural descendants. The Ali'i Parkway sub-committee was tasked to contact the families who were connected to the sites and to notify the Mayor of its outcomes. The sub-committee did not conduct consultation that would suffice the County's legal obligation to consult the community, nor it intends to submit design mitigations however, the intent is to assist the KCDPAC in deciding if it would re-recommend their initial CIP request with recommendations from those who were previously consulted regarding the archaeology landscape. Along with members of the Mayor's office and the Planning Committee, the sub-committee members met with families who have cultural and lineal ties to some of the archaeology sites that were in question. ACTION ITEM Should the KCDPAC vote on vetting all or part of the recommendations listed in this report, I would move to sunset this sub-committee. Summary The sub-committee met on three occasions last year to discuss outreach strategies to reconnect with the families who were previously consulted and who continue to steward their sites. We drew a list of lineal and cultural descendants who contributed to Final Burial Treatment Plan (FBTP) prepared for the County of Hawaii by Paul H. Rosendahl, Ph.D., Inc. (PHRI) in April 2001. The sub-committee focused on families who were previously consulted because it is not in the KCDPAC's purview to consult new community members who want to engage on the merits of the project, but to consult those who had previous affiliations to the archaeology sites that resulted in a stalled decision for the project. The selection of lineal and cultural descendants was based on reviewing historic accounts and documents dating back to 1973 regarding previous archaeological research for the Ali`i Parkway, ethnographic surveys to included oral histories recorded by noted kupuna within the Kahului Keauhou region, and discussions with past members of the Hawai'i Island Burial Council(1992-1993). A mental timeline was developed to see how far, wide and specific we needed to cast our outreach efforts without hindering the County's obligation to consult with the public. Communication No. 2019-26 Overall, the sub-committee felt obligated to understand the evolution of the AIi`i Parkway Project with regards to the proposed designs and mitigations as well as took into consideration the FBTP's summary which mentioned the objective of the overall FBTP program that is designed "to provide information necessary to complete the federal historic preservation review process required under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966(as amended) (NHPA). This program is in accordance with a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) dated July 1987 and executed among the Federal Highways Administration—Hawaii Division (FHWA),the Hawai'i State Historic Preservation Officer, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), with the concurrence of the County of Hawai'i (HCPD), the Hawai'i State Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA)." Therefore, this sub-committee spent its efforts to go back to those families who have long-standing connections and commitments and those who participated in a previous consultation process to analyze their concerns should the Mayor decide to address traffic and safety concerns within the Kahului- Keauhou region. Conclusion After meeting with some of the lineal and cultural descendants from the Kahului-Keauhou region along with members from the Mayor's Office and the Planning Department, the sub-committee would like to make its recommendation to the KCDPAC, that we re-recommend the CIP line item Alii Parkway Project for the reasons listed: 1. To mitigate Kona's traffic concerns between South and North Kona and safety concerns within the Kahului-Keauhou regions. 2. Encourage formal consultation with the community 3. Aside from general consultation and due to the work placed within the Fina Burial Treatment Plan, have thorough consultation with focus on the cultural and lineal descendants and how access and stewardship can improve within the Kahului-Keauhou region even if it means the Parkway is not built. 4. Encourage solutions that encourage open space such as trails 5. Develop incremental phases for construction that include the use of La'aloa Road and Lako Street which the original plans did not include. 6 Highly recommend an updated archaeology survey. 7. Highly recommend an updated traffic study that will show impacts on both current Ali'i Drive and Kuakini Highway, and consider future traffic and safety impacts based on population growth due to commercial and residential development in both North and South Kona and Ka'u. This concludes the report on your sub-committee for Alii Parkway. Should the committee of the whole decide to make the recommendations based on this report, I would then like to take up an action item. Mahalo, 71%, rig- Shane Palacat-Nelsen Chair William P.Kenoi Duane Kanuha 6 Mayor Director tip' '4/'.i• Joaquin Gamiao-Kunkel Deputy Director s West Hawat't Office East Hawat't Orrice 74-5044 Ane Keohokalolc Hwy101 Pauahi Street,Suite 3 Kailua-Kora,Hawat-t 96740 County of Hawaii Hilo,Hawart 96720 Phone(808)323-4770 Phone(808)961-8288 '— Fax(808)327.3563 PLANNING DEPARTMENT Fax(808)961-8742 KONA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE J7 December 5, 2016 73 Mr. Duane Kanuha Planning Director r, County of Hawai'i co 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 3 Hilo, Hawai'i 96720 Reference: The Kona CDP Action Committee voted unanimously to recommend the following Capital Improvement projects, Dear Director Kanuha: At its November 30, 2016 meeting, the Kona CDP Action Committee(Committee)voted unanimously to recommend the following Capital Improvement projects, illustrated on the attached map(Attachment 1), be included in the prospective 2017-2018 Capital Improvement Budget and Program, listed here by order of priority and described further below: 1. Feasibility and Preliminary Design Study: Revised Keauhou-Kahalui Parkway Ali'i Hwy.) Design, Alignment and Phasing. 2. Feasibility and Preliminary Design Study: Revised Northern Alignment and Terminus of Keauhou-Kahalui Parkway(Ali'i Hwy). 3. Final Design of Kealaka'a St. Extension to Hinalani St. 1. Feasibility and Preliminary Design Study: Revised Keauhou-Kahalui Parkway (Ali'i Hwy.) Design, Alignment and Phasing. A new or updated conceptual feasibility and design study, including preliminary design, for construction of the previously proposed Keauhou-Kahalui Parkway(a.k.a. Alii Highway or Alii Bypass)as a two-lane highway, including bicycle and pedestrian travelways, between: a) Its proposed southern terminus/junction with Ali'i Drive fronting Keauhou Shopping Center, and b)A revised, relocated northern terminus/junction with Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway, in accordance with recommendation No. 2 below. The Committee recommends that the feasibility and preliminary design product include the option of constructing this highway in two or more phases according to functionalities of existing and planned "mauka-makai connector streets (La'aloa, Lako, Royal Poinciana) with which this proposed highway will inter-connect. Such phasing plan should propose the vyat,w con pt eQt0 Hatral'1 County is an EqualOpportunity Pro,iderand Employer plattnine skiwiucounly Sqt 108797 priority of the respective road construction phases, should phased/segmented construction be deemed necessary. 2. Feasibility and Preliminary Design Study: Revised Northern Alignment and Terminus of Keauhou-Kahalui Parkway(Ali'i Hwy). Although an element of Project Recommendation No. 1 above, the Committee particularly recommends a comprehensive, multi-parcel feasibility and preliminary design analysis to realign the northern portion of the proposed Parkway/Highway, so as to keep the northern section of this highway and its connection with Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway south of the flood plain laying within the ahupua'a of Kahalui and thus to be aligned within or adjacent to the ahupua'a of Puapua'a 1st (See attached map). This realigned, new northern alignment and terminus with Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway is recommended as a means to reduce the overall project development cost by: (i)avoiding the Waiaha flood plain which the current plan requires crossing with multiple bridges/culverts both above and below Kuakini Highway, and (ii) avoiding the need to construct a new, high capacity intersection at Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway within the short intermediate section between its existing intersections with Puapua'anui Street(Pualani Estates subdivision) and Hua!alai Road. The Committee recognizes the multiple ownerships of parcels within the proposed realignment area, and the possibility of conflicting roadways plans among such parcels with regard to effecting the desired thoroughfare,and thus wishes to emphasize the need for comprehensive engagement and planning with and among the subject landowners, above and below Kuakini Highway, in order to produce the desired feasibility and preliminary design product. The Committee also acknowledges the pending entitlement status for development of the now vacant and undeveloped parcels that would be transected by the proposed realignment. Consequently, the Committee recommends that this northern section feasibility-design analysis have the highest priority within the undertaking of the above-listed Alii Parkway/highway project(Recommendation No. 1). 3. Final Design of Kealaka'a St. Extension to Hinalani St. The Committee is advised that preliminary design and right-of-way acquisition agreements have been completed between the landowners and the County for this southernmost segment of a highly desirable new arterial-collector street to eventually run from Kalace (Kona Palisades, Coastview, Wonderview, Highlands and other interstitial subdivisions)to the regional public school complex (Kealakehe elementary, intermediate and high schools). This segment(northern extension of Kealaka'a St. to Hinalani Street) is denoted as Roads segments 9B and 9C on Concurrency Map 4-3 of the Kona Community Development Plan, and is shown on the attached map. The Committee is further advised that the affected private landowners have conditionally agreed to collectively pay for and/or construct this roadway segment, but that final design of this project has not been undertaken. Accordingly, the Committee recommends that the County fund and develop the final design of this roadway project to facilitate private/public construction as soon as practicable. This recommendation also takes into account the impending construction of a section of Manawalea Street extending makai from Kealaka'a Street to Ane Keohokalole Highway; completing this interconnection between Kealaka'a St. and Ane Keohokalole Highway, in conjunction with completing the extension of Kealaka'a St. to Hinalani St., will provide a significant, highly desirable alternate route between Kailua-Kona and the Kaloko section of Mamalahoa Hwy., above its transition into Palani Road. 2 In making the above three CIP recommendations for project studies and designs, the Committee also recognizes and hereby extends its continuing support for those ongoing CIP projects being undertaken by the Department of Public Works, as they have previously reported and as is listed in Attachment 2 to this letter. Respectfully Submitted Hiram Rivera Chairman KCDP Action Committee 3