More than 1,000 affordable housing units are expected to be built in North Kona, once an exploratory well is turned into a water production well.
That process moved a step forward this week, with the publication Wednesday of a finding of no significant environmental impact issued by the Hawaii County Department of Water Supply. The finding paves the way for construction of a water well and transmission system for Kamakana Villages.
Forest City Hawaii got county and state approvals for the Kamakana Villages project in 2011. The state Land Use Commission approved amending the state land use classification for the 272-acre parcel mauka of the Ane Keohokalole Highway, from agriculture to urban. The development, at full build-out, is expected to include 1,069 affordable housing units, the majority of which will be multifamily housing.
Comments received during the comment period came primarily from government agencies seeking clarification of technical details.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, however, expressed concerns about cultural and archaeological structures and the potential impact of pumping the water on freshwater sources in the Keauhou Aquifer.
“OHA requests assurances that should iwi kupuna (burial sites) or Native Hawaiian cultural materials be identified during ground altering activity, all work in the area will immediately cease and appropriate agencies, including OHA will be contacted pursuant to applicable law,” said OHA CEO Kamanaopono Crabbe in a Feb. 5 letter to developers.
The water project, estimated to cost about $8 million, includes the installation of a 1,050-gallons-per minute pump in the Keopu Well No. 4 and installation of a 12-inch, 890-foot-long pipeline from the well site to the existing Department of Water Supply 1 million gallon Keopu storage reservoir. A booster pump station will be constructed at the reservoir.
The project also includes grading and paving the existing 900-foot access road between the well site and Mamalahoa Highway and installation of a 16-inch, 3,600-foot-long pipeline in the Mamalahoa Highway roadway.
The site is located along Mamalahoa Highway about 3.3 miles south of the Mamalahoa Highway-Palani Road Junction.
Forest City will dedicate the facilities to the water department for use as a production well capable of producing up to 1.5 million gallons per day. It’s typical for the developer to pay for water sources and other infrastructure and turn maintenance over to the county, said Department of Water Supply spokeswoman Kanani Aton.
Forest City anticipates that work on the well and water lines will commence within one year of the date it receives its last infrastructure approval and will be completed within approximately two years from that time.