Posted on: Friday, August 17, 2001

Big Island land swap approved

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — The state Board of Land and Natural Resources has approved a land swap with Parker Ranch that will help create separate campuses for Waimea Elementary and Middle School.

The Board of Education last year ordered that the school be split into separate elementary and middle school units.

The two levels now operate separately but still share a single campus. According to recent Department of Education figures, 543 students were enrolled in the elementary unit and 511 in the middle school.

The land board last week granted approval for Parker Ranch to exchange nearly five acres near the school for an acre of state land elsewhere in Waimea, subject to final legal agreements. The board must approve all transactions involving state land.

Parker Ranch planner William Moore said ranch trustees wanted to assist the state in improving public education in the area.

The ranch will use the property it is receiving in the swap to extend Lindsey Road, a key thoroughfare in the town of more than 7,000 residents.