Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
USDA supports loan to developers
HILO >> The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Agency is backing a $3.6 million loan to the developers of a 60-room hotel in the Big Island district of Keaau, officials said.The money was part of $4.4 million in loan guarantees and grants from the federal agency for various Big Island businesses.
The hotel is being developed by the Keaau Hospitality Group, doing business as the Keaau Village Inn, which is leasing a five-acre site adjacent to the Keaau Shopping Center.
Construction is expected to begin by the end of the year, said Bob Saunders, vice president of Keaau Hospitality.
Big Island Council meeting moves
HILO >> A meeting at which the Hawaii County Council was expected to consider overriding Mayor Harry Kim's veto of rezoning for an 83-acre development project near the Kona airport is now scheduled for Kona instead of Hilo, officials said.Reconsideration of the rezoning issue was removed from a council meeting last week in Hilo and placed on the agenda for its Sept. 15 meeting in Kona, council Chairman James Arakaki said.
The council on Aug. 4 approved rezoning the airport land to accommodate the Clifto's Kona Coast project, a development that would include a major shopping center, a 250-room hotel, condominiums and apartments. Kim vetoed the measure last month saying it should be delayed until road improvements are made to handle the increased traffic that would be generated.
The matter then was placed on the agenda for the meeting in Hilo.
Councilman Curtis Tyler, of Kailua and North Kona, objected, calling it a "slap in the face" to his district to decide a Kona matter in Hilo.
