A preferred plan for the long-proposed 190-acre Kealakehe Regional Park will be released this summer, project planner Glenn Kimura said Tuesday in Kailua-Kona.
However, bringing the park — and other projects in the area with federal involvement — to fruition could be hampered by a federal Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to list 18,000 acres between Palani Road and Waikoloa as critical habitat for three species — kookoolau, uhiuhi and wahine noho kula — as well as identify 15 species as endangered. Some 1,192 of those acres are found within the Kealakehe and Keahuolu ahupuaa in North Kona.
“It shouldn’t stop it, it would likely delay it,” said Jess Newton, a supervisory fish and wildlife biologist with the service. “It doesn’t mean that no development can occur. What it means is that any development or destruction of habitat cannot render all the units (of the critical habitat area) nonfunctional.”
With the designation, federal agencies are required to consult with the service on actions they will carry out, fund or authorize to ensure that the action will not destroy or adversely modify a critical habitat.
Private landowners, unless requiring federal funds or permits, are not impacted by the designation beyond state requirements.
The listing proposal was included in an October 2012 Federal Register. The public has through May 30 to provide comment.
A public information meeting will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. May 15 at the West Hawaii Civic Center’s County Council Chambers. A formal public hearing, where comment will be taken on record, will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the civic center.
Approximately 150 of the 190 acres of Kealakehe Regional Park would be included in the critical habitat area as proposed. Hawaii County Department of Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Bob Fitzgerald said he was aware of the proposal and the department is currently looking into its potential impact on the project.
The Fish and Wildlife Service announcement, and an update on the Kealakehe Regional Park and other projects in the area, came during Lai Opua 2020’s annual “Alliance For A Sustainable Ahupuaa” meeting held Tuesday at the West Hawaii Civic Center in North Kona.
Several dozen people representing various entities attended the meeting to discuss the Kealakehe and Keahuolu ahupuaa, said Bo Kahui, Lai Opua 2020 executive director.
Kahui said he was concerned about the effect the designation could have on projects related to the Lai Opua Community Center, a $92 million project on 26 acres off Ane Keohokalole Highway.
Kahui also reported that the state Legislature rejected an $8.6 million funding request for infrastructure. Without infrastructure, the project and a proposed West Hawaii Community Health Center medical clinic at the community center is also on hold.
Richard Taaffe, WHCHC executive director, said some $5 million has been secured to complete the first phase, an 11,000-square-foot health clinic that would include dental, medical and outreach program via a federal Department of Health Health Resource Service Administration grant. A second phase would bring the facility to between 24,000 and 25,000 square feet.
Despite the possible delays, he said the project is on time and on budget for opening in early 2015. The first phase of construction is anticipated to take about nine months.
Laura Dierenfield, manager at the Queen Liliuokalani Trust, which owns of 1,300 acres in Keahuolu, also said that the proposed critical habitat is of concern to the trust because it will impact 302 of those acres. The trust will request the lands be excluded from the proposed critical habitat.
Forest City Hawaii Project Manager Ann Bouslog said the 271-acre development Kamakana Villages at Keahuolu is progressing. The project at full build-out, which is expected to take 18 years, will include 2,330 homes, of which 50 percent would be considered affordable.
Infrastructure work is underway and Forest City hopes to get housing and community development underway in 2014, Bouslog said.
When asked for a five-year outlook on the project, Bouslog said Forest City hopes to have complete 160 homes within two to three years.
One-half of those would be considered affordable while the other half would be sold at market value, she said.
The Department of Hawaiian Homelands also provided a quick update during the meeting. Work on infrastructure at Villages at Lai Opua Village V is complete and homes are going up on the 117 lots, said Sandra Pfund, DHHL Land Development Division administrator.