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Hawaii Kai cemetery Plans for the 61-acre East Oahu Memorial Park in the back of Hawaii Kai's Kamilonui Valley have stalled in the City Council Zoning Committee.
plans put on hold
Worries about increased traffic
and runoff prompt the Zoning
Committee to seek an opinion
from the neighborhood boardBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-BulletinOn the recommendation of John DeSoto, zoning chairman, the committee voted yesterday to defer action on a key approval for the cemetery until the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board forms a recommendation on the project.
The board is scheduled to discuss the cemetery at its meeting Tuesday. The Zoning Committee is not scheduled to meet again until January.Key issues raised yesterday included worries about water runoff into nearby Kamilonui Valley farms and increased traffic.
A ditch 10 to 12 feet wide and about 9 feet deep separates the planned cemetery from Lee Ann See's flower farm. Heavy rain two weeks ago left the hillside behind her with four new areas of heavy erosion, See said.
Hawaii Kai resident Bob Fowler asked that a geotechnical survey of the ground be completed before planning continues.
Thomas Ishii, president of the Mariner's Cove Community Association, said a poll of homeowners showed 133 oppose the project, two favor it and one is undecided.
"It's the one natural place we have in our community," Ishii said.
Planner Keith Kurahashi, representing developer Kamval LLC, said a grassy cemetery, coupled with careful grading on the property and a planned drainage basin, would improve the farmers' situation.
Traffic would be through a narrow driveway known as Kaiwi Drive on the Koko Head side of the valley.
The land is zoned as a preservation district, where a cemetery is a permitted use. The Council, however, must approve its boundaries.
The developer expects a cemetery to be phased in over 20 to 30 years. The initial phase would include a mortuary, sales office, restroom, a caretaker's dwelling and possibly a crematorium.