Hilo Rep. Jerry Chang, chairman of the committee, is the lead author of the bill, which has been co-sponsored by most of the Big Island delegation.
A House committee is set to take up a bill today that could assume control of leases in Hilo’s Banyan Drive area from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Meeting this morning in Honolulu, the Water, Land and Ocean Resources Committee will discuss House Bill 2366.
If passed, this bill would create the East Hawaii Development District and a board to manage the district.
The entity would then become the owner of parcels leased by the Naniloa Volcanoes Resort, the Hilo Bay Hotel and the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, the Country Club Hawaii Condo Hotel, Bayview Banyan and the Reed’s Bay Resort Hotel. It would have the responsibility of planning a mixed-use development and making a better use of the area than the situation that currently exists.
Hilo Rep. Jerry Chang, chairman of the committee, is the lead author of the bill, which has been co-sponsored by most of the Big Island delegation.