County to mull Hakalau Point purchase

Should Hawaii County buy Hakalau Point?

The County Council’s Finance Committee will get a chance to weigh in on the future of the site today as it considers a resolution authorizing the purchase of the nearly 9-acre property, a former home to the Hakalau Plantation Co.

But a deal requires a willing seller.

Property owner Steve Shropshire, who is moving forward with a planned development, said he is willing to part with the property if the county also buys 87 acres he owns in the Hakalau gulch for a combined price of $4.25 million.

He said that price would recoup money invested in the properties and his proposed Hakalau Plantation Community development.

“I’m open-minded,” Shropshire said, adding he respects some Hakalau residents’ wish to preserve the land as a park.

“I think everyone should be allowed to follow their dreams.”

But he said he has a lot of money and time invested in the project, and would like to see it through.

The development would include 11 homes and two new commercial/industrial buildings. His plans would provide value-added agriculture, regular farmers markets and farm-to-table dining, according to Shropshire, a Papaikou resident.

The large valley parcel would provide residents and visitors access to a “traditional Hawaiian environment,” according to a Power Point presentation Shropshire emailed to the Tribune-Herald.

The two parcels on Hakalau Point have a combined assessed value of $842,600, according to the county’s Real Property Tax Office.

The county’s Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Commission ranked the lots as its No. 3 priority for preservation.

It says the site could be used for a “remembrance park,” with walking and biking paths, an education center and pavilion. The purchase also would maintain view planes, which would be blocked by the “upscale housing plans,” according to the commission’s 2015 report.

The document also notes the property is the only former plantation site that has not been developed. It provides the only “readily available” scenic overlook between Wainaku and Laupahoehoe, the report says.

Nonprofit organizations Basic Image, Wailea Village Historic Preservation Committee and Hakalau Plantation Village Association support the purchase.

Hakalau resident Ken Forbes told the Tribune-Herald last year that the development would transform the point, and not in the way some residents want.

“Putting a subdivision out there on the point of the bay, there are many members of the Hamakua community who do not want that,” he said at the time.

Shropshire said he thinks his plans to build a multiuse development there would benefit the community and respect its history. Two historic mill buildings that remain would be preserved and homes would reflect the plantation style.

“I’m convinced that there is a need for this type of development,” he said.

He said the Windward Planning Commission will consider approving a special management area permit for the project at a meeting in September.

Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.