Census tracks evolution of towns

By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer

Pat Myers remembers buying clothes for her children at Western Auto and sending orders to Sears through its catalog before Hilo had a mall.

Census on the Web • The Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism has set up a Web page to help the public, the business community and government agencies sift through the growing volume of recently released census information. • The Web page provides access to most census information released to date, as well as reports prepared by the department to highlight data of particular interest to HawaiÎi residents. www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/census2k • The report also shows how census tracts have been modified to provide more detailed data on areas of recent growth and includes maps showing census tract locations. These 2000 tract maps were produced by the Office of Planning and are on the Internet site. www.state.hi.us/dbedt/gis/index.html

And because they're leaving, Pat and Roy Myers are in the minority in Kea'au.

The latest numbers from the U.S. Census detail, for the first time, neighborhood-by-neighborhood population shifts since 1990. Kea'au grew by about 5,000 people between 1990 and 2000, an increase of 72 percent, as the area has extended to become almost a suburb of Hilo.

"Now that the bypass road is open, it's opened up real estate," said Pat Myers, whose four-bedroom, five-bath home, complete with a downstairs apartment and fishponds, is on the market for $222,000. "I kind of hate to see it, because I like it being residential instead of a lot of businesses."

The census data, which is used for a wide variety of tactical decisions, from redistricting of political boundaries to the choosing of the location for a new fast-food restaurant, reflects situations like Myers' on every island.

On O'ahu, the boom is in the 'Ewa-'Ewa Beach area, which grew by about 12,650 people, a 131 percent increase.

The reason? Subdivisions.

"The main thing is affordability," said Danny Pacheco of Island Heritage Realty. "There's not too many places on the island left where you can buy a house for less than $300,000. I see younger military couples moving from the Mainland, and they get price shock coming here. In 'Ewa, the price shock is not so bad."

Any place there is a population jump, it's "because they're building thousands of new condos and subdivisions," said Phillip Kuchler, who owns Kuchler & Co. property management and hosts the talk radio show "All About Real Estate" on AM 650 KHNR.

"'Ewa Beach has shown a big increase because that's one of the only places that's left to build," Kuchler said. He expects the 2010 census will show continued growth in the western direction, toward Ko 'Olina and wherever new highways are built.

In Mililani, Elvira Menor, whose husband is a home builder, has watched the island population expand away from Honolulu's urban boundaries.

"When we moved here, nobody wanted to move here because they said it's too far. We didn't have the freeway," she said. "Way back then, it was a pineapple and sugar cane plantation. I'm glad for the growth."

The growth has changed the flavor of the area for good and for bad, real-estate agent Alice Aiu said, with shopping centers and restaurants going in but mom-and-pop shops moving out.

"It's more manicured," she said. "But that's just replacing the old sugar fields."

It's also easy to explain the growth on Maui, where Ma'alaea and Kihei are the fastest-growing areas, with 7,000 more people than a decade ago, said Que Martyn, a broker for Quality Real Estate.

"There's the highest (number) per capita of swimmable beaches. It's sunny all the time, and it's very family-oriented," said Martyn, who said homes in the area average $275,000 to $350,000, and "go as far up as you want to go."

Population declines across the Islands can be traced to military shifts in places such as Pearl Harbor, but in some areas, the shifts are harder to explain.

On O'ahu's north side, new census numbers reflect 4,338 people living in the Hale'iwa-Kawailoa census tract, a nearly 141 percent increase over a decade ago.

"My suspicion is that there's something wrong with the numbers," said Ken Newfield, former board president, who studied his area's population extensively when he opposed a subdivision in the early 1990s.

Board member Warren Scoville and President Kathleen Pahinui echoed his statement.

"We would have noticed that big of a jump," Pahinui said.

Economists there say the population information is the most requested data from the census.

But it will be up to state and county planners to analyze the reasons for the shifts and how to handle the changes, state economist Pearl Imada Iboshi said.

That's a fair deal for Eugenia Chuan, who hosts vacation rentals in Hanalei, the fastest-growing tract of land on Kaua'i, near the scenic beach where "South Pacific" was filmed.

"Most people here have been here for a while," she said. "People who have been here fall in love with the place and go home and tell their friends. I think this is just about the most desirable place to live on the island."