Encouraged by a sound study showing their noise will have minimal impact on neighbors, backers of the Kona Motorsport Park are pushing for the project to get higher priority at the county.
The Hawaii Racing Association is set to meet with council members and parks and recreation officials next coming week in hopes the county will cover the cost of an economic impact study on how much revenue the planned facility would generate.
The association is turning to the county for funds for the economic study — estimated at around $20,000 to $30,000 — because donors have already put out about $50,000 of their own money, including the $20,000 sound study completed by D.L. Adams Associates this past spring, racing association president Paul Maddox said.
“We’ve tapped out a lot of our donors,” he said.
The free labor continues to flow, however. Three volunteer engineers are donating thousands of dollars worth of time in designing the courses, tracks and drag strip, Maddox said. Engineers are also working with state transportation officials to dovetail the park entrance with a planned realignment of the entrance to the Kekaha Kai State Park at Queen Kaahumanu Highway, Maddox said.
The park is planned for three phases. The beginning phase — much of which Maddox said can be built by park users themselves — would have courses and trails for trucks, all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles, followed in later phases by a dirt stock car oval, a 2-mile winding road course and a quarter-mile drag strip. A 20-acre multiuse area would provide a venue for concerts, car shows, fairs and other events. Full buildout of the park would cost well over $30 million.
Racing enthusiasts have been trying to build the park for two decades, starting in 1994 with a 600-acre site that the group was considering near the Puuanahulu Landfill. The group set their sights further south on recommendation from state lands officials, settling on a 450-acre location north of Palamanui that later shrunk to 250 acres with the discovery of historic sites and lava tubes. Mayor Harry Kim was an early supporter of the park concept. Friday, the former mayor said he still wholeheartedly supports the endeavor.
“I truly believe this will make Hawaii a better place to live,” Kim said. “You have to do these kinds of projects now, while the open land is available.”
Organizers acknowledge there is still much more ground to cover before the chunk of state land can be developed into a park that would be managed by the county. The land would have to be reclassified, transferred to the county and subjected to an environmental study.
Not all residents support the raceway, and the sound study hasn’t convinced all nearby residents that they won’t be annoyed by the project.
Leading up to the meeting, Maddox said he has been urging association members to get in touch with their county councilors to voice their opinions on the park.