Kaua'i developers urged to build road first
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
KOLOA, Kaua'i — The proposed Kukui'ula project has been cut from more than 4,000 units to 1,500, but residents still worry about all that extra traffic, they told the Kaua'i County Council last night.
"I don't think any construction should happen until those main roads are in place," said Steve Tusler, a Lawa'i resident.
The 1,000-acre Kukui'ula Development Co. project is a joint venture of landowner Alexander & Baldwin and resort community developer DMB.
The project spans the coastline from Po'ipu Road to the cliffs of Lawa'i Valley, a swath two miles wide and in some places a mile deep. Virtually all of it, except for a small piece at Kukui'ula Bay, lies mauka of Lawa'i Road.
A&B started planning the project two decades ago as a big subdivision for middle-income residents. In its latest configuration, it's a high-end project for visitors, a fact the developers conceded when they asked that the entire project be designated as a visitor destination area, meaning its apartment units can be sold as time-shares and its homes can be used as vacation rentals.
Sen. Gary Hooser, D-7th (Kaua'i, Ni'ihau) asked the council and developers to amend the plan, creating a more mixed residential scheme that would include "a significant component of housing" for Kaua'i residents.
Hooser complained that the project will create a community consisting almost entirely of second homes.
The 1,000 acres would include 1,300 residential units, 120 condominiums, a 64-unit hotel, an 18-hole golf course, 26 acres of park and open space, along with land for 60 units of "affordable" housing, commercial property, school sites, a recreation center and other uses. The project has received the approval of the Kaua'i Planning Commission, and is before the council for zoning approval.
One of the major issues for the community is a proposed western bypass road that would carry project traffic around congested Koloa Town.
The developers propose to complete part of the bypass — from the development north to Koloa Road — after their project is well under way.
Others want that part sooner, and the extension from there to Maluhia Road soon thereafter.
Reach Jan Tenbruggencate at (808) 245-3074 or at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.
