SUBHEAD: Attend the Planning Commission's final hearing on Kilauea proposal, Tuesday April 12, 8:30am.
By Staff on 7 April 2011 for From Heartbeat of Kauai -
(http://www.heartbeatofkauai.com/should-one-developer-be-allowed-to-determine-the-future-of-kauai)
[Summary of Ad in The Garden Island 11/4/7, page A7]
Image above: Map of involved properties looking north-west. Click to enlarge. [Editor's note -The red shaded areas are currently in the pipeline for development. Echos of the Poipu plans just before the financial collapse. The orange area is the Pavillion site on agland that is the conecting mauka and makai. Graphic by IslandBreath.]
“Should One Developer Be Allowed to Determine the Future of Kauai?”
A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT
HAWAII STATE LAW currently protects agricultural land from commercial development. However, that may be about to change—if the developer of the Anaina Hou-Kilauea Pavilion gets his way. He has applied for a Special Use Permit, which would enable him to build a commercial amusement complex on land zoned as “Agricultural” by the State. The County has not before granted a Special Use Permit for commercial development on State-designated agricultural land. Once this precedent is set, agricultural lands across Kauai would be fair game for commercial developers. All they would need is a Special Use Permit.
SIX MYTHS ABOUT THE KILAUEA PAVILION
Myth No. 1 “The Kilauea Pavilion will be great for the community.”
The Kilauea Town Plan of 2006 designated this specific Open site to be zoned for agriculture or, if it is to be at all developed, as residential housing. With so many young people forced to move away from their island home due to the high cost of housing, are we to believe that a theater complex will better serve the community than residential housing? The only people that would be served by the Pavilion are North Shore residents who don’t like to drive to Lihue for commercial entertainment. We need to think of the more pressing needs of the community at large.
Myth No. 2 “The Kilauea Pavilion will give people jobs.”
Yes, Anaina Hou did give jobs to people—people from off-island. During a Planning Commission hearing for Kauai Mini Golf, the developer promised that it would be built by a local company. Once its plan was approved, however, the work was instead given to a New Jersey contractor and his crew. When the job was pau, they were gone. And as for the 35 jobs currently held by local people at Kauai Mini Golf, few of them are allowed to work over 22 hours per week. By not paying a living wage, the developer/owner is able to avoid providing full benefits.
Myth No. 3 “The Kilauea Pavilion will be great for sustainability.”
Anaina Hou claims to be all about sustainability, yet its site plan sounds a likely death knell for nearby Puu Kumu Stream. The only space available for a sewage wastewater treatment system is too small to handle 16 toilets and too close to the waterway to prevent contamination. Then, to add insult to injury, the spillway for all the oil and chemical run-off from the parking lot will be placed within the flood plain that slopes into the stream. If the raw sewage doesn’t kill the stream, the oil and chemicals from the parking lot will.
Myth No. 4 “The Kilauea Pavilion will have no adverse effect on surrounding neighbors.”
There are 55 homes within the legally significant 1000-yard radius of the proposed Kilauea Pavilion. Neighbors living close to the proposed outdoor amphitheater are worried about the noise, traffic and lights that come with night-time crowds and concerts. The developer has promised to keep sound levels no louder than 55 decibels at the boundary line—below the volume of normal conversation. Is he joking? Clamorous concertgoers in the amphitheater’s lawn seating will be only a few hundred feet from neighbors. The developer’s promises to keep noise levels at 55 decibels are entirely unenforceable.
Myth No. 5 “The Kilauea Pavilion will not hurt the endangered Newell Shearwaters.”
The Kilauea Pavilion is in a migratory path of the Shearwaters. The bright lights of the outdoor amphitheater will attract the keiki birds until they exhaust themselves in confused flight before dropping to the ground. This can happen even with the downward-facing lights that are supposedly “Shearwater-safe.” For this reason, Anaina Hou has applied for an “Incidental Take Permit” with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. An Incidental Take Permit implies the expectation that Newell Shearwaters will be killed, or “taken.”
Myth No. 6 “The Kilauea Pavilion conforms to all County and State ordinances.”
Actually, the proposed Kilauea Pavilion is not in conformance to numerous County and States ordinances. [See next post here for a list of those.]
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Testify this Tuesday, April 12, at the Planning Commission’s hearing starting *8AM* at the County complex on Rice Street. Mail or fax letters to: Commissioners Caven Raco, Hartwell Blake, James Nishida, Jan Kimura, Camilla Matsumoto, Wayne Katayama, and Herman Texeira at: Kauai Planning Dept., 4444 Rice St., Lihue, HI 96766. Fax letters to (808) 241-6699. Reference Anaina Hou-Kilauea Pavilion. Tell them this is NOT “great” for the community, the environment, nor the economy! Let them know we must not set this dangerous precedent of granting a Special
Use Permit. In addition, please email mayor@kauai.gov and councilmembers@kauai.gov and urge them to take a stand against this Special Use Permit.
By Staff on 7 April 2011 for From Heartbeat of Kauai -
(http://www.heartbeatofkauai.com/should-one-developer-be-allowed-to-determine-the-future-of-kauai)
[Summary of Ad in The Garden Island 11/4/7, page A7]
Image above: Map of involved properties looking north-west. Click to enlarge. [Editor's note -The red shaded areas are currently in the pipeline for development. Echos of the Poipu plans just before the financial collapse. The orange area is the Pavillion site on agland that is the conecting mauka and makai. Graphic by IslandBreath.]
“Should One Developer Be Allowed to Determine the Future of Kauai?”
A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT
HAWAII STATE LAW currently protects agricultural land from commercial development. However, that may be about to change—if the developer of the Anaina Hou-Kilauea Pavilion gets his way. He has applied for a Special Use Permit, which would enable him to build a commercial amusement complex on land zoned as “Agricultural” by the State. The County has not before granted a Special Use Permit for commercial development on State-designated agricultural land. Once this precedent is set, agricultural lands across Kauai would be fair game for commercial developers. All they would need is a Special Use Permit.
SIX MYTHS ABOUT THE KILAUEA PAVILION
Myth No. 1 “The Kilauea Pavilion will be great for the community.”
The Kilauea Town Plan of 2006 designated this specific Open site to be zoned for agriculture or, if it is to be at all developed, as residential housing. With so many young people forced to move away from their island home due to the high cost of housing, are we to believe that a theater complex will better serve the community than residential housing? The only people that would be served by the Pavilion are North Shore residents who don’t like to drive to Lihue for commercial entertainment. We need to think of the more pressing needs of the community at large.
Myth No. 2 “The Kilauea Pavilion will give people jobs.”
Yes, Anaina Hou did give jobs to people—people from off-island. During a Planning Commission hearing for Kauai Mini Golf, the developer promised that it would be built by a local company. Once its plan was approved, however, the work was instead given to a New Jersey contractor and his crew. When the job was pau, they were gone. And as for the 35 jobs currently held by local people at Kauai Mini Golf, few of them are allowed to work over 22 hours per week. By not paying a living wage, the developer/owner is able to avoid providing full benefits.
Myth No. 3 “The Kilauea Pavilion will be great for sustainability.”
Anaina Hou claims to be all about sustainability, yet its site plan sounds a likely death knell for nearby Puu Kumu Stream. The only space available for a sewage wastewater treatment system is too small to handle 16 toilets and too close to the waterway to prevent contamination. Then, to add insult to injury, the spillway for all the oil and chemical run-off from the parking lot will be placed within the flood plain that slopes into the stream. If the raw sewage doesn’t kill the stream, the oil and chemicals from the parking lot will.
Myth No. 4 “The Kilauea Pavilion will have no adverse effect on surrounding neighbors.”
There are 55 homes within the legally significant 1000-yard radius of the proposed Kilauea Pavilion. Neighbors living close to the proposed outdoor amphitheater are worried about the noise, traffic and lights that come with night-time crowds and concerts. The developer has promised to keep sound levels no louder than 55 decibels at the boundary line—below the volume of normal conversation. Is he joking? Clamorous concertgoers in the amphitheater’s lawn seating will be only a few hundred feet from neighbors. The developer’s promises to keep noise levels at 55 decibels are entirely unenforceable.
Myth No. 5 “The Kilauea Pavilion will not hurt the endangered Newell Shearwaters.”
The Kilauea Pavilion is in a migratory path of the Shearwaters. The bright lights of the outdoor amphitheater will attract the keiki birds until they exhaust themselves in confused flight before dropping to the ground. This can happen even with the downward-facing lights that are supposedly “Shearwater-safe.” For this reason, Anaina Hou has applied for an “Incidental Take Permit” with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. An Incidental Take Permit implies the expectation that Newell Shearwaters will be killed, or “taken.”
Myth No. 6 “The Kilauea Pavilion conforms to all County and State ordinances.”
Actually, the proposed Kilauea Pavilion is not in conformance to numerous County and States ordinances. [See next post here for a list of those.]
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Testify this Tuesday, April 12, at the Planning Commission’s hearing starting *8AM* at the County complex on Rice Street. Mail or fax letters to: Commissioners Caven Raco, Hartwell Blake, James Nishida, Jan Kimura, Camilla Matsumoto, Wayne Katayama, and Herman Texeira at: Kauai Planning Dept., 4444 Rice St., Lihue, HI 96766. Fax letters to (808) 241-6699. Reference Anaina Hou-Kilauea Pavilion. Tell them this is NOT “great” for the community, the environment, nor the economy! Let them know we must not set this dangerous precedent of granting a Special
Use Permit. In addition, please email mayor@kauai.gov and councilmembers@kauai.gov and urge them to take a stand against this Special Use Permit.
2 comments :
Great article! I can't understand how an entertainment venue can be considered agricultural. This Pavilion will adverse change the nature of the North Shore.
GREAT graphic, Juan!
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