Posted on: Thursday, July 8, 2004

Proposed Keauhou project tops agenda

Advertiser Staff

Concern over water supply and the preservation of historic sites are among the issues to be raised today when a proposed residential and golf-club project in Keauhou is heard by the state Land Use Commission.

The project is a development of Kamehameha Investment Corp., an arm of Kamehameha Schools, which is asking the commission to reclassify about 488 acres in this Big Island Kona district from agricultural to rural on state land use maps, leading to the development of 300 homes to 400 homes and a golf course.

The public hearing is the first item on the agenda for the commission, which will convene at 10 today and tomorrow in the Hau/Lehua Room of the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel on the Kohala Coast.

The project has the support of the county Planning Department and the state Office of Planning.

However, it has drawn concern from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs staff, which has identified water supply for this and other Kona developments as an issue and is pressing to save more archaeological sites in larger preserves than Kamehameha has identified.

In addition, an association of 32 homeowners at Pu'uloa is asking the commission to require Kamehameha to honor a commitment to provide a buffer zone between its property and the Pu'uloa subdivision.