Advertiser Staff and News Services
CENTRAL
Some oppose shopping center
The City Council’s Zoning Committee passed a bill on to the full council Wednesday for a proposed 41-acre shopping center in Royal Kunia.
Landowners HRT Ltd., Honolulu Ltd. and 300 Corporation want to build a Kahala Mall-sized shopping center at the vacant Kunia Road location and are seeking a change in zoning from limited industrial use to neighborhood business district.
Several area residents testified and submitted written testimony in opposition to the bill, saying a new center of that size would hurt the already struggling businesses in nearby Waipahu and worsen area traffic problems.
A public hearing and second reading of the bill will be Feb. 21 at Honolulu Hale.
A community meeting to discuss the issue is scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 24 at Ho‘ae‘ae Community Park.
LEEWARD
Crews repair broken main
Honolulu Board of Water Supply crews worked into the evening yesterday to make repairs to a broken water main on an access road near Kili Drive in Makaha.
A board spokesman said either a 16-inch or 30-inch main broke at about 11:24 a.m. yesterday and after five hours, crews were still on the scene digging out the pipe to find the problem.
Emergency van hours boosted
The city has expanded the hours of its rapid response emergency medical service vehicle based at the Kapolei police station. It will now provide service from 3 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily.
The emergency van began operating Oct. 20 from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., which is the busiest shift, and started a 16-hour schedule Dec. 7. The service should be 24 hours a day by April 1.
Kapolei was designated as one of four areas on O‘ahu in need of additional ambulance coverage by the state Department of Health along with metropolitan O‘ahu, Kahuku/Ka‘a‘awa and the Wai‘anae Coast.
The Kapolei emergency vehicle is not an ambulance, but can do everything an ambulance can do except transport patients.
WINDWARD
Ammo leads to parolee charge
Police this week charged a 36-year-old man, who was on probation and parole, with a weapons violation following a disturbance in Waimanalo on Tuesday night.
Police charged Eric Kepa on Wednesday with an ammunition possession offense. His bail was $50,000.
According to police, Kepa confronted officers when they responded to a 9:40 p.m. Tuesday fight call at 41-849 Kalaniana‘ole Highway. Officers observed what appeared to be a handgun sticking out of Kepa’s waistband.
A broken handgun and ammunition were found on Kepa, police said.
NORTH SHORE
Schofield force bound for Sinai
The first 240 soldiers of a 529-member task force from Schofield Barracks leaves today for Sinai, Egypt, to support an international peacekeeping mission assuring that Egypt and Israel abide by a 1979 treaty.
Family members said goodbye last night to members of the task force, who will be away for six months. The remaining soldiers depart on Jan. 19.
Besides maintaining the U.S. Army’s presence in Sinai, the deployment will offer "immeasurable professional development, as well as building esprit de corps throughout the battalion," said Capt. Andrew Morton.
EAST HONOLULU
Expect delays for a month
Motorists should expect delays beginning at 8:30 a.m. today through Feb. 14 on Kalaniana‘ole Highway while The Gas Company crews begin working on underground gas lines.
Crews will close the left east-bound lanes from Kalani Iki Street to just past Anali‘i Street.
Work will mainly be done in the median strip.
Police officers will be on duty to assist traffic. Workers will be out from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to .m. Saturday and Monday.
HONOLULU
Visitor speaks on tourism
Bernard Lane, a senior lecturer at the University of Bristol in England, will speak at 3 p.m. today at the University of Hawai‘i-Manoa’s Architecture School Auditorium on "Sustainable Tourism — Challenges and Opportunities for Hawai‘i."
Lane specializes in the relationship between tourism development and environmental quality.
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