New zoning would let Grove Farm finish job

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Grove Farm plans to complete its half-finished Pua Kea Golf Course with a new design that will keep all 18 holes on the Nawiliwili plateau.

The Kaua'i County Council's Planning Committee yesterday approved changes to Grove Farm's zoning to allow the company to expand its 10-hole golf course and to extend interior roadways within its master-planned community that runs from Puhi to Nawiliwili Harbor.

The zoning change still requires the approval of the full council and Mayor Maryanne Kusaka.

Grove Farm's progress on the project was halted in the economic downturn following Hurricane 'Iniki in 1992.

The company's financial problems resulted in Grove Farm's sale to AOL-Time Warner executive Steve Case. Case has committed financing for the reconstruction of the company's Kukui Grove Shopping Center and for reviving other projects within the master-planned area.

The Pua Kea Golf Course was intended to straddle Pu'ali Stream, with most holes on the Nawiliwili side and two on the Hulemalu plateau. Grove Farm is giving up land now zoned for residential use to move the entire course onto the Nawiliwili side.

Company president David Pratt said work on the completion of the golf course should begin immediately after final approval of the zoning changes.