Progress on the long-sought Laaloa Avenue extension was delayed again after Leeward Planning commissioners on Thursday deferred voting on a special management area permit to determine whether an area resident can contest the case.
Attorney Randy Vitousek, representing Onouli Farms owner Eugene Clapp, on Wednesday filed a petition for a contested case hearing. Vitousek said Thursday that his client, who lives about a third of the year on the makai side of Laaloa’s current intersection with Alii Drive, wants to ensure all details about improvements to the lower, existing portion of Laaloa Avenue and its intersection with Alii Drive are clarified before work commences on the extension.
“We don’t like leaving things hanging,” Vitousek said. “While the environmental assessment talks about (the lower area), he doesn’t want the project to progress without the Department of Public Works specifying what the plan is for Laaloa and the Alii Drive intersection.”
Following a 30-minute executive session, commission Chairwoman Geraldine Giffin said the entity opted to continue the matter in order to obtain more information prior to determining whether Clapp, who lives well beyond the 300-foot notification boundary triggered by the permit, has standing to contest the case. She requested specifically that Public Works provide more details on the intersection and design plans, as well as address concerns raised by Clapp.
The Hawaii County Leeward Planning Commission next meets Nov. 15 at the West Hawaii Civic Center.
More than a dozen people attended Thursday’s commission hearing. Six people provided testimony on the meeting’s two agenda items.
Public Works is seeking the permit in order to construct a 1,900-foot extension that will connect Laaloa Avenue with Kuakini Highway. Hawaii County Planning Director Bobby Jean Leithead Todd gave the application a favorable recommendation.
The permit does not address the existing roadway, which area residents thought was part of the project.
A Sept. 14 letter from Public Works Director Warren Lee to Leithead Todd said the lower portion of Laaloa and its intersection with Alii Drive would be dealt with in a later phase. Brandon Gonzales, who represented the department during the commission hearing, was unable to say when improvements to the existing road might begin.
Four area residents, who said they were in support of the project, said they had some concerns about safety, security and the lower portion of Laaloa Avenue and its intersection with Alii Drive not being improved prior to completion of the extension. According to the testifiers, the first 4,000 feet of Laaloa Avenue is only 20 feet wide, and it will become congested.
“Two phases wasn’t part of the proposed plan,” said area resident Bob Ward, who also participated in an advisory group for the project.
He said when the Hawaii County Council approved bond funding for the extension the entire road was to be improved in one phase.
In 2011, the council approved the $20 million bond to build the road. It’s estimated the mauka portion will cost about $14 million.
“This was the document put into the budget that the council relied on in passing the bond,” Ward said. “All the SMA needs is an amendment that all improvements must be completed prior to converting Laaloa from a cul-de-sac to a major collector road.”
Should the project garner a positive recommendation at the next hearing, it will move to the Hawaii County Council for approval. Vitousek indicated if the commission denies Clapp’s petition to contest the case, litigation would be pursued.
Also Thursday, the commission gave a positive recommendation to a request by Fumie Bonk to subdivide her Puukapu, Waimea, parcel. The request requires a change in zoning from agricultural 40 acres to residential and agricultural 0.5 acre, as well as an amendment to the state land use district boundary from agricultural to rural.
Bonk’s daughter, Keiko Bonk, said the subdivision is sought to divide equally her 1.046-acre lot and deed the portion fronting Mamalahoa Highway to her son for his farming operation.
Two neighbors testified, expressing concerns that the change could increase congestion and set a precedent for other property owners to subdivide.
