Wai'alae club revises plans
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
KAHALA — Waialae Country Club has resurrected plans to make improvements on its famous golf course, but has dropped two ideas that prompted opposition among neighboring residents.
Two years ago, the club proposed to set up nets on 60-foot poles on the driving range and to build a maintenance gate off Waiholo Street and a cart path near the seventh and eighth holes on the course. The proposals drew the ire of residents whose homes back onto the golf course and country club. In June 2001, after two public hearings, the club put its plans on hold.
This time, the club's plan does not include poles or a service gate.
"We're resubmitting our application after working with the community," said Cedric Choi, president of Waialae Country Club, which oversees the golf course.
"We're satisfied with the solution," Choi said.
But some residents still are unhappy, saying they have not been informed of the new plan.
They say the club did speak to them about the new plan at an informational meeting on another topic but has yet to contact the community as required by law — the cause of much of residents' anger the first time around.
Currently, nets are attached to coconut trees, but the rigging system creates a maintenance problem because the nets break down from rubbing against the trees, said Choi.
The nets need to be higher to prevent errant golf balls from hurting anyone, according to the country club. The situation is worse during professional tournaments, such as the annual Sony Open, the club said.
The club proposes to attach a special bracket system to the coconut trees, eliminating the need to install poles that would have been 20 feet higher.
The club also has dropped its plan for a service access gate off Waiholo Street, Choi said.
Members of the Waialae Golf Course Community Association have not seen anything in writing from the country club about the revision or their initial concerns from June 2001, said Lester Leu, association president. The community has said all along that poles for the higher netting would block homeowners' views and that the road would increase traffic in the small community.
The community would not have learned of the club's intent to resubmit its proposal had residents not asked for a meeting with the country club to discuss the trimming of hedges, Leu said.
"It troubles me," Leu said. "We have not seen the country club's revised plans. We had called a meeting on other issues, and they mentioned their plans. The burden of informing the public falls on the applicant.
"Our issue is that the country club is not being neighborly."
The country club approached the city in November with a preliminary plan for revisions.
The city responded in January, advising the country club that it needs to notify residents who would be affected and it should make presentations to the community at the Wai'alae-Kahala Neighborhood Board and the Kuli'ou'ou-Kalani Iki Neighborhood Board, according to city documents.
A public hearing will be held on the country club's proposal. No date has been set.
The country club intends to make presentations to the community in September.
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
