Kailua-Kona Ooma, Pine Trees ADVERTISING Kona land use victory The Kona community has been fighting for decades to preserve what’s left of West Hawaii’s coastal, conservation lands. Ooma II, located less than a mile from Kaloko-Honokohau National Park and adjacent
Ooma, Pine Trees
Kona land use victory
The Kona community has been fighting for decades to preserve what’s left of West Hawaii’s coastal, conservation lands. Ooma II, located less than a mile from Kaloko-Honokohau National Park and adjacent to Kohanaiki (aka “Pine Trees”), is one of the only areas that hasn’t been developed or permitted to be in the future. Having sufficient natural areas for the public’s cultural, recreational, spiritual and subsistence needs makes it imperative to Kona’s burgeoning population that Ooma’s 300 acres not be developed as has most of West Hawaii’s coastline.
Since the early 1990s, Ooma has been threatened by urban and resort development. In 2010, after four years of input and review, the state Land Use Commission (LUC) voted to deny Ooma’s reclassification for urban use. The land’s current owners, Ooma Beachside Villages LLC, appealed the decision, calling the LUC “incompetent” and “irrational.” The clear and deliberate denial of what would have otherwise been another speculative tragedy was one the of most rational decisions the LUC ever made.
In July 2011, an appeals court agreed, confirming the protection of Ooma and its sensitive near shore waters. That decision also helped shore up the public’s role in the land use process — a democratic safeguard also threatened by the developers’ appeal.
The last chance for Ooma Beachside Villages LLC to appeal the court’s decision passed in November 2011, giving the public its third major Ooma victory in 20 years, leaving Ooma’s conservation protections intact and another misplaced development plan DOA.
Though the landowners have shown no interest in selling their property, the time is right for them to do so. Despite the Kenoi administration’s unwarranted support of Ooma’s development, its public acquisition and protection has been so popular that Ooma has been listed in Hawaii County’s top five places to be acquired through the Open Space program. Meanwhile, greed and poor business sense have brought progressively bigger speculative losses to landowners who refuse to live with the restrictions that come with the conservation-designated properties they buy. The grueling and wasteful fights they’ve instigated make it increasingly clear the only way to ensure Ooma’s long-term protection is for it to be publicly owned and controlled in perpetuity.
The sooner the landowners let go of their fruitless development plans for Ooma II, the sooner the county can get on with the work of prioritizing, acquiring and maintaining Ooma II as natural, protected, open space.
Janice Palma-Glennie
Kailua-Kona
Jet noise
Why all the complaints?
I was totally surprised to see so many complaining letters written to the newspaper about the military aircraft noise. Don’t these people have anything better to do?
I sincerely hope the worst thing that ever will happen to these complainers is this noise. Seriously, the noise of thunder is louder than the aircraft noise they are complaining about. Get a life, people.
John S. Rabi
Kailua-Kona
