The lengthy process of revitalizing one of Hilo’s most recognizable locations took another step forward Wednesday as members of the newly formed Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency board met to review a draft conceptual plan for the area.
The lengthy process of revitalizing one of Hilo’s most recognizable locations took another step forward Wednesday as members of the newly formed Banyan Drive Hawaii Redevelopment Agency board met to review a draft conceptual plan for the area.
The plan, created by the Hawaii County Planning Department, is still in the early stages and subject to tweaking as the board and county planners receive more feedback from partner agencies, the public and Banyan Drive lessees and landowners.
“This, obviously, is a priority for our office,” county Planning Director Duane Kanuha said Wednesday.
A redevelopment district for Banyan Drive was delineated earlier this year. The bulk of the district, which is bounded by the former Hilo Ironworks building on one end and commercial properties at the intersection of Banyan and Kamehameha Avenue at the other, is the Waiakea Peninsula.
The state owns about 91 percent of the district. Redevelopment efforts will take place with the Department of Land and Natural Resources continuing as the landowner and lessor for these parcels.
The peninsula is Hilo’s primary hotel area, something Kanuha is personally familiar with: He worked at the Naniloa Hotel in the early 1960s, when Hilo tourism was booming.
“During these peak years, that area of Banyan Drive was happening,” Kanuha said.
Since then, however, the peninsula has fallen into decline. According to a 2014 state lodging demand analysis, Hilo’s hotels account for about 75 percent of the town’s lodging capacity, but only 29 percent of visitor stays.
Earlier this year, the redevelopment district was declared “blighted” under Hawaii’s urban renewal law.
The five-member board of directors was appointed in April, with attorney Brian De Lima as chairman and Realtor Mary Begier as vice-chairwoman. Elmer Gorospe, Hawaii division director for International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142, KTA Super Stores CEO Barry Taniguchi and Sig Zane, owner of Sig Zane Designs, round out the group.
County planners have been working on the draft plan for about six months, said planning program manager Daryn Arai.
The draft incorporates elements of several other planning documents used to create a master vision for Hilo, including the 1965 Kaikoo Amended Urban Renewal Plan, the most recent (2005) iteration of the Hawaii County general plan, and the 1975 Hilo Community Development Plan.
It also ties in to more recent growth initiatives such as Hilo Bayfront Trails, the state commercial harbors master plan and the county’s Kuawa Street sports development project.
Guidelines from each of the planning documents shape the features of the redevelopment draft. The state harbors master plan, for example, includes the construction of a new cruise ship terminal and pier by 2035. That in turn affects strategic placement of open space and new hotels on the Waiakea Peninsula.
Aligning the various development plans requires untangling a few knots, particularly in addressing residential properties. De Lima pointed out that according to the original plan for the area, “It was always envisioned that the accommodations on the peninsula would be short-stay.”
“That’s going to be an area that the (redevelopment) agency’s going to have to deal with: residential use versus more transitive use,” Kanuha said.
The current proposal features an expanded Liliuokalani Gardens and a marked increase in park space and commercial buildings.
It also calls for the construction of a community Hawaiian cultural center on the peninsula, envisioned as a future home for the Merrie Monarch Festival. Kanuha described the center as “the one thing that would really pull all of this together.”
Begier, who previously served on the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, said she broached the idea of having a hula center on Hawaii Island before with the foundation, and there would likely be off-island support for the endeavor.
The group also discussed the possibility of increasing the amount of timeshares in the hotel properties, as well as the idea of building condominiums as potential retirement communities.
Once complete, the Banyan Drive redevelopment document will serve as an update to the county general plan.
De Lima thanked the county planners for their work preparing the draft.
“I think this is a good start,” he said.
Public informational meetings will take place at 4:30 p.m. June 28 and July 5 in the Aupuni Center conference room.
For more information, visit www.hawaiicounty.com/boards-and-commissions and click Banyan Drive Redevelopment. Comments and suggestions also can be emailed to planning@hawaiicounty.gov. Contact Daryn Arai at 961-8142 with any questions.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.