Some 22 acres of agricultural land in West Hawaii could become mini-developments totaling 26 new house lots under two rezoning requests a County Council panel is set to consider Tuesday.
One project, a 15-lot subdivision in South Kona, would be located at the intersection of Hawaii Belt Road, Alii Drive and Napoopoo Road, leading some residents to express concerns about traffic safety in the area.
“It’s a safety issue. There are multiple lanes to cross from either direction, as the photo showed, and much distraction for all vehicles so close to the intersection, including their merge zones, both those access roads, the other side has the beginning or ending of a merge zone,” said Antu Harvey, president of Pulama ia Kona Heritage Preservation Council. “It’s very, very dangerous. I’m actually surprised that it would even be allowed by the rules for the highways.”
The rezoning would allow the applicant to subdivide the property into 15 lots, with a minimum lot size of 14,000 square feet. Both the planning director and the Leeward Planning Commission gave favorable recommendations.
A proponent and the applicant’s representative said the area is meant for development even though it’s currently classified as agriculture in the state land use plan. The land is poor quality and it’s not clear what could be grown there, they told the planning commission at a July 21 hearing.
“This is a classic infill proposal; there is development all around it, it has been designated by the county for future growth,” said Michael Matsukawa, who lives on a property mauka of the land in question. “And so, it doesn’t meet the requirements of the existing State Land Use Law for what an Agricultural District should look like.”
Kailua-Kona resident Janet Matlock had a number of reasons for opposing the project, including traffic safety and the loss of agricultural lands.
“I just really want to, want to emphasize that this is the wrong parcel, the wrong place, and it is the right time to say stop paving over agricultural lands,” Matlock said.
Land planner Sidney Fuke, representing landowner Robert Cowell, said the developer has secured commitments for 25 water hookups and could actually develop more than the planned 15 on the 6.9-acre parcel.
“Because they have to go through the zone change process, a couple things have to happen: One is that there is an affordable housing requirement, so that’s 20% they already have to sell at the affordable housing rate, but more critically, because the lots are smaller for the market, the average market rate will be considerably less than selling it as a one-acre lot size; the other thing too is that, you know, they now have to pay a fair share, so, that, they are willing to accept,” Fuke said. “The access issue that was brought up earlier would thus be somewhat less dangerous than having a 25-lot subdivision.”
The other project the Planning Committee will consider also has favorable recommendations from the Leeward Planning Commission and the Planning Department. Applicant Siting Chen proposes to subdivide a roughly 15-acre parcel into 11 lots consisting of a minimum of 1-acre each. Chen intends to retain the largest lot consisting of roughly 3.5 acres to construct a single-family dwelling and plant an orchard with lychee, Iongan, mango, avocado, ulu, papaya, banana, dragonfruit and vegetable plots.
He plans to sell the remaining 10 lots.
The property is located on the south side of Hualalai Road, approximately 0.6 miles east of its intersection with Queen Kaahumanu Highway in North Kona.
The council Planning Committee meets at 11 a.m. Tuesday in Hilo, with public testimony also taken at the West Hawaii Civic Center, Pahoa and Waimea council offices and via Zoom.
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.
