Posted on: Thursday, July 10, 2003
Meeting scheduled for Kona projects
Advertiser Staff
The Department of Land and Natural Resources has scheduled a public information meeting to discuss the development of 350 acres of state land near the Honokohau Small Boat Harbor in North Kona.
The meeting will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. July 30 at the Kealakehe High School cafeteria. The doors will open at 6:30 p.m. to allow people to view maps of the site and ask questions.
The Board of Land and Natural Resources in April authorized the department to issue a request for proposals to seek a developer who would develop the site with private money. The master-planned development could include resort, commercial, industrial, recreational and marina components.
The property has remained vacant for decades, in large part because of lack of state money to develop it on its own. DLNR officials said it has strong development potential because of its proximity to Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway, the ocean and the Honokohau Small Boat Harbor.
DLNR staff recommended negotiating a lease with a developer as a way to increase the value of the land and the financial return to the state, especially if the developer assumes pre-development costs such as infrastructure and preparation of an environmental impact statement.
The small boat harbor, which is managed by DLNR, is not part of the 350 acres and will not be included in the request for proposals. If a marina is built next to the Honokohau marina, it will share an channel access to the ocean, but will be managed separately.
There has been talk of combining the DLNR property with an adjacent 200-acre parcel owned by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands for a larger master-planned development.
The DHHL put out its own request for proposals and selected Menehune Development Co. to handle commercial development of the 200 acres.
DHHL Director Micah Kane yesterday said the agency hopes to wrap up negotiations with Menehune within the next few weeks. However, the department remains open to the possibility of combining the two properties into a single development, he said.
