Kailua's vision team receives wish list
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward Bureau
KAILUA — Moving the sewer plant to Kapa'a Quarry, building a civic center at Daiei and connecting waterways throughout the town for recreational use were some of the more than 70 suggestions residents proposed this week for the future vision of Kailua.
And despite opposition from a some to a median planned along Kailua Road from Bank of Hawaii to Hahani Street, residents proposed more medians on Oneawa Street, Ku'ulei Road and Keolu Drive at a vision team meeting attended by 150 people Monday at Kailua Intermediate School.
The island's 19 vision teams are developing their 2003 list of projects for their community. This is the fourth year of the vision process, in which the city allows each team to decide how to spend $2 million for capital improvement projects in their communities. Since the program's inception, Kailua has proposed 18 projects, which are in various stages of development. Several will be constructed this year, including a median and underground wiring on Kailua Road.
"This is not new money," said Randall Fujiki, Kailua vision team coordinator for the city and director of the city Planning and Permitting Department, referring to the vision team's finances. "This is a better way to decide how to spend your money."
This year the mayor also gave the 33 neighborhood boards the power to decide how to spend $1 million each for repairs and renovations in their communities.
At the meeting people broke up into 15 teams and came up with ideas such as cleaning streams, passing building codes that require aesthetic uniformity, banning fireworks from neighborhoods and enforcing beach closure rules.
People wanted dog parks, hiking trails, traffic calming, dust control at the quarry, bus shelters, and wildlife areas. Others suggested a permanent pavilion at the Kawai Nui Model Air Park, a community theater and a cultural center.
"The city needs to acquire the Daiei property and use part of it for a civic center," said John Mazur, who also called for tearing down the fence at Daiei and placing all utility wires underground.
Leon Marcus' team thought it was important to preserve the culture and history of the Kailua ahupua'a — the land division from mountain to sea — and suggested a cultural center at Boettcher Estate, Kalama Beach Park or at the marsh.
"We recognized that Kawai Nui Marsh is the heart of the ahupua'a and it might be a good place for a cultural center," Marcus said.
The Kailua vision team meets on the third Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. At the next meeting, projects from the list created this week will be selected for consideration. A final list must be submitted to the city by the end of the year, Fujiki said, encouraging people to stay involved.
"I know these are great ideas, but you need to come because these are going to be refined, expanded and combined, possibly," he said.
A location has not been selected for the next meeting. People who attended the meeting will be notified by mail. The data also will be posted on the city's Web site.
