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Saturday, July 14, 2001



Navy details Ford
Island plans

Development options are
being explored


By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

More than 420 housing units would be built for as many as 1,000 Navy personnel and their families under the highest-density redevelopment plan proposed for Ford Island.

The Navy, under this proposal, envisions 3,396 Navy personnel and civilians working on the 450-acre island in the middle of Pearl Harbor. Coupled with an ambitious private commercial complex with tourist attractions, including a Navy museum, and employing an additional 5,645 people, the Navy estimates the number of daily visitors would be 14,968.

Three other alternatives, including no action, are listed in the Navy's draft environmental impact statement, which will be put out for public hearings next month. The first will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 1 at Aliamanu Intermediate School, and the second Aug. 2 at 7 p.m. at Washington Middle School.

Under the Navy's proposal to maximize the development of the island, increased traffic would be the greatest head-ache.

Roads and traffic would be affected, resulting in the need for road improvements and other traffic management at Ford Island Boulevard and Kamehameha Highway. The highest volume of peak traffic is projected at 4,400 cars an hour, according to the Navy's plans.

The demand on the main sewage pump station used to convey waste off Ford Island would be increased under the highest-density proposal, according to the proposed environmental impact statement.

Art The Navy also is seeking comment on Ford Island's historic sites, ranging from hangars, bungalows and airfields to an air tower, which several historical preservation groups want saved. The draft environmental report acknowledges that any of the developmental options would have a significant impact on the island's historical places.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation put Ford Island on its endangered list last month, in an attempt to put pressure on the Navy to save several pre-World War II structures. The Navy, however, maintains that the group's actions are premature since no final determination has been made about the fate of the landmarks.

Ford Island, which was bombed and strafed during the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack, is included in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Pearl Harbor complex.

The development alternatives listed in Navy's executive summary are:

>> The high-density plan, which includes 250,00 square feet of Navy administrative space and a training complex combined with private commercial development.

>> A medium-density proposal, which carries the same Navy requirements but trims commercial development to 2,793 employees from 5,645.

>> Low-density development, which would fulfill only the Navy's needs.

In the high- and medium-density proposals, as much as 75 acres on Ford Island could be leased to private developers. Past proposals for the $500 million project have included restaurants, a Navy museum and similar tourist-related activities.

The high- and medium-density proposals call for the sale or lease of five Navy properties to fund the Ford Island redevelopment. These include:

>> Leasing 6.6 acres at Halawa Landing, between the USS Bowfin Museum and the USS Arizona Memorial, to support visitor operations and shuttle bus and boat services.

>> Leasing 322 acres where 1,469 single-family and duplex housing units now used by Navy personnel are located, at Iroquois Point and Puuloa near the entrance to Pearl Harbor.

>> Selling 515 acres at the Naval Magazine at Waikele, which was formerly used to store ammunition, but where only 52 acres are considered to be developable.

>> Selling 675 acres at the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station, which includes 548 housing units and commercial, industrial and recreational facilities but does not include the popular golf course.

The proposed environmental impact statement found no significant impact in the areas of potable water, drainage, electrical power, solid waste, communication, geological features, topography, soils, ground and surface water, air quality, flora and fauna, and on the wetland, coral reef and fishery habitats.



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