Banyan Drive may see new life after the state conducts a study of how to improve the ailing area over the next several months.
The Board of Land and Natural Resources authorized the Department of Land and Natural Resources on Friday to conduct a strategic assessment to determine how best to revitalize Banyan Drive after years of decrepitude.
DLNR Land Division Administrator Russell Tsuji said at the meeting that the assessment would be developed with the intention of creating recommendations to lawmakers in time for the 2024 legislative session. Tsuji acknowledged that the timeline is aggressive, but BLNR Chair Dawn Chang said it was the least that members of the community deserve considering the area’s condition.
“The point is, we need to do something,” Chang said. “At this point, to do nothing is unacceptable.”
The study would only cost a couple hundred thousand dollars, Tsuji estimated, and would be conducted through the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism’s Hawaii Community Development Authority. He added that the process will involve outreach to the Hilo community to determine what they think should be done with the area.
Ryan Tam, director of planning for the HCDA, said the assessment will piggyback on several similar previous studies and compile their findings into a more cohesive set of recommendations shaped by local stakeholders.
“One of the big issues … that I’d like to see addressed, is whether the current infrastructure in place right now is adequate for whatever envisioned plans (the community) has for Banyan Drive,” Tsuji said. “My guess is, because the infrastructure is very old in that area, it may certainly need some upgrading, but to what extent, we don’t know.”
Tsuji said one of the “driving forces” behind the study is the looming presence of the derelict former Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel, which has sat unused since 2017 and become a crime-infested fire hazard which can only be removed through a $13 million demolition.
“If and when we take down Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel, the question we’ll hear is, ‘what are you going to do with that site?’” Tsuji went on. “There will be all kinds of comments about what people would like to see in the area, but some people will say ‘keep it open space,’ some will say ‘try a small hotel.’ Others just say we need parking for Banyan, we don’t have enough parking.”
But another question the assessment hopes to answer will be the fate of the Naniloa Golf Course, which Tsuji said is seen by many in the community as “underutilized.” Currently, the course is included in the property leased to the Grand Naniloa Hotel, but management of that hotel attempted to remove the course from its lease in 2021.
Tsuji said that, should the golf course return to DLNR control, it could be developed into a stadium in which to hold the Merrie Monarch Festival and other events popular among visitors.
Hilo business owner and Hawaii Tourism Authority board member Jim McCully lauded the proposed assessment, adding that “the sentiment in the community is that this has languished long enough.”
“There’s still a perspective in East Hawaii that more needs to be done between Land Division and the lessees,” McCully said. “As we all know, the properties there are either fully developed and require remediation or removal, or they’re underutilized, i.e. the golf course. The infrastructure is going to need upgrading, the likelihood of having to move Banyan Drive and those iconic trees is going to become an active issue for any long-term rationalization of how to use that very special place.”
McCully went on to say that Banyan Drive includes about 85% of East Hawaii’s overnight accommodations, which means that any effort to alleviate the problem of short-term vacation rentals on the Big Island will have to improve Banyan Drive one way or another.
Several Hawaii County officials submitted testimony in support of the study, stating that a cohesive vision for the area is long overdue.
“For decades Banyan Drive had been known as the ‘Hilo Walk of Fame’ for the majestic trees planted by celebrities, but over the years has become a haven for crime, squatters, drug activity, numerous fires and even suicide, leading to hundreds of responses by police and fire personnel during the past six years,” wrote a statement by Mayor Mitch Roth.
“Hilo and East Hawaii once served as the primary economic engine of the Island of Hawaii,” wrote County Research and Development Director Douglass Adams, adding that the assessment is a first step to bringing Banyan Drive back to its former glory.
Hilo Rep. Mark Nakashima also submitted support for the assessment, writing that he has been disheartened by the legislature’s failure to take any decisive action regarding Banyan Drive since being elected in 2008. Tsuji said Nakashima’s office was instrumental in developing the proposal for the assessment.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.