Gathering Place


By Garry Smith

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Ewa Beach needs break
from new development

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The announcement by Haseko Homes that it is seeking approval of an application to develop another 940 homes at Ewa Beach Marina means at least another 2,000-plus cars and 3,000-plus people using an infrastructure that is already critically overburdened.

These new homes are in addition to the hundreds of homes Gentry and Schuler have planned or now have under construction. Without more roads, schools, and fire and police services, these new residents quickly will become victims of a long-ignored and underrepresented area of Oahu.

Ewa Beach for years was a hidden gem that suddenly, due to an abundance of inexpensive land, lost its waving fields of sugar cane to greedy developers and ambitious politicians. Ewa Beach always had been at the end of the road, a place you had to have a good reason to want to go to because it was so far out of your way.

Once connected by a narrow two-lane Fort Weaver Road to the H-1 freeway with only one stoplight, Fort Weaver now boasts four lanes and nine stoplights. Yet it takes longer to get to the H-1 now than it ever did with two lanes and only one stoplight.

What happened? Development without accompanying infrastructure. Former cane fields that were no longer profitable for big sugar companies became fallow ground for inexpensive houses. These new housing projects make millions for the developers, but they have left the community with tremendous social problems.

Traffic congestion is the most often cited problem, but schools are overcrowded, too, and getting worse. Before it was even built, Holomua School was used as a selling tool for new Gentry homes. But when it opened, it was already too small and enrollment was limited to children living on the east side of Fort Weaver Road.

The fire station has been in the same building since the 1950s, even though it has three times the number of homes to protect. Police patrols are up, but not nearly enough for an ever-growing population that has the largest crystal-meth problem and associated property crimes in the state.

Oneula Beach Park, with its magnificent view of Diamond Head and Waikiki, has burned-out hulks of stolen cars, homeless people living off the land and a well-deserved reputation as somewhere to avoid at night.

And what do the developers say about the crowded roads, schools and social services? At neighborhood board meetings, Haseko Homes' representative has said these conditions are not the fault of the developers, and placed the blame on the city and state for not having built the infrastructure as fast as the new homes were sold.

There is only one solution that bypasses all the builders and incompetent legislators: Stop buying homes. Don't be fooled when you view your new home on the weekend, when traffic is light. On the first Monday you'll drive to work and find it takes 30 minutes just to get to the H-1.

What can you do? Current residents can testify in person at 1:30 p.m. June 10 at the Human Resources Conference Room, City Hall Annex, 550 S. King St., or send testimony to Department of Planning and Permitting, City and County of Honolulu, 650 S. King St., Honolulu 96813, or call 527-6044.

Testify against Haseko Homes' permit application to build 940 more homes bringing more than 2,000 more people into our community until the proper infrastructure is in place. This rape of Ewa Beach must stop.

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Garry P. Smith is a retired Navy commander and 25-year Ewa Beach resident.>