Save Keauhou Bay from development
Kamehameha Schools has submitted their draft environmental impact statement to develop Keauhou Bay into a bungalow resort that will have 43 buildings with 150 accommodations for high-end tourists.
Please go to bigislandsupport.com/savekbay and learn how you can help save Keauhou Bay from this bungalow resort development, because the deadline to submit your comment letter is Aug. 7.
There is a fully researched comment letter on the site that you can use as your own letter, add comments to it, or use it to help you get ideas on what to write in your own comment letter.
Your letter can’t be for personal reasons. It must be for environmental, traffic and cultural reasons why this development will cause a negative impact in Keauhou Bay, and we only have a few weeks to help save it from Kamehameha Schools’ EIS or they will go to the next step in the process to start developing their bungalow resort in the bay.
Please read the letter on bigislandsupport.com, because it gives over 60 scientific articles that give proof that this bungalow resort will pollute Keauhou Bay for years to come. There are articles that give researched information that shows how development has and will kill coral and marine life in this manta ray loving bay.
You must care enough about Keauhou Bay to give your personal time to help save it!
Rebecca Melendez
Keauhou
Better access needed at Hilo beach park
Hawaii County taxpayers have borrowed almost $4 million to make Richardson Ocean Park compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Unfortunately, after all this time and money spent, kupuna and handicapped persons are still not able to enter the water because no handrail or ramp has been installed over the rocks near the beach.
People have tried to get the Hawaii County Parks and Recreation Department and the Department of Land and Natural Resources to improve water access for many years!
If you have been to this beach park, you know how tough it is to enter the water even for young people. Lifeguards regularly treat swimmers who fall on these rocks.
ADA only covers handicapped access to the high water mark, not into the water. Because of this, the DNLR’s Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands and Hawaii County must correct the situation.
Last year, I spoke at length with Michael Cain (OCCL) and Maurice Messina (Hawaii County Parks and Rec) about this problem. Still, nothing has been done to improve the situation.
This is a textbook example of the federal (ADA), state (DNLR) and county (Parks and Rec) governments not being able to work together to fix a simple problem.
Dan Knowlton
Pahoa