Public to influence future
of Honokohau Bay
The people of Hawaii will get a say in just what kind of development -- if any -- should occur in Honokohau Bay just north of Kailua-Kona.
That's what the state Board of Land and Natural Resources concluded Friday as it approved a process to seek a private developer to design, build and operate a "mixed-use development" immediately south of the state-run Honokohau Small Boat Harbor.
Possible developments on about 350 acres of state land at Honokohau would likely center on a new marina of up to 500 slips that would operate separately from the existing 280-slip marina, Young said. But they also could include time shares, condominiums, a resort hotel, marina-related businesses, shops and restaurants.
The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands also plans to develop 200 acres of its property just mauka of the DLNR land.
A public meeting in Kailua-Kona to hear what area residents want will be set within weeks, Peter Young, director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, said after yesterday's meeting. Opinions may also be directed to Dierdre Mamiya, administrator of the Land Division, he said.
Several representatives of environmental groups at the meeting, including Life of the Land and Hawaii's Thousand Friends, complimented the board for seeking public comments now, rather than after a developer has outlined what it wants to do. They cautioned that until yesterday the process hadn't appeared to include public input.
They also emphasized that the state must do an environmental assessment of what effects a new marina and other development would have on the natural, cultural and historical aspects of the area.
"We need to bring stakeholders to the table and ask what the community is going to accept as far as development parameters," board member Kathryn Inouye said.
When the board was considering a private operator for DLNR's Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor, it appointed an ad hoc committee of stakeholders to tell the state its likes and dislikes, board member Tim Johns recalled.
The state has not yet advertised for proposals to privatize the Ala Wai, which like the existing Honokohau Harbor is operated by the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation.
Young said he expects it would be easier to have a private developer work with raw land, rather than take over an existing marina.
Janet Mandrell of the Makai Society said after the meeting that she's still concerned that the Land Board appears to be assuming it's in the public's best interest to offer a long-term lease to a private developer.
Representatives of at least two groups that have expressed interest in developing the area were present at Friday's meeting, but did not address the board:
>> Charles Brown, a consultant for Westrec, a mainland marina operator that he said is interested in operating "any or all" of Hawaii's small boat harbors or a new one at Honokohau.>> Fred Yamashiro, president of Menehune Development Co., which is in negotiations with the DHHL to handle its nearby development.
Dept. of Land & Natural Resources
