Council holds off on
selling Elm Street section
The City Council's budget committee deferred acting yesterday on a measure seeking to sell a portion of the city-owned Elm Street to Meadow Gold Dairies.
A 12,000-square-foot section of Elm Street is sandwiched between two Meadow Gold parcels on Sheridan and Cedar streets where the company's processing plant is located.
Meadow Gold said it wants to buy the street and close it off to the public to make it safer for its delivery trucks to travel to and from the plant. The company also wants to protect against any possible acts of terrorism.
Area residents told the committee that Meadow Gold did not notify them of its most recent plans and that they believe the closing of that portion of Elm Street will cause further traffic congestion.
Roy Nakamura, who lives on Cedar Street, brought with him a petition with 317 signatures opposed to the sale of Elm Street.
"Now you block off Elm Street, that traffic comes directly down our street; it's a one-way street," Nakamura said.
The city administration is also opposed to the sale because of the potential impact the closing of the road may have on traffic and on the surrounding neighborhood.
Department of Planning & Permitting Director Eric Crispin said that Meadow Gold has not done a study that takes into account the impact of the nearby construction of Wal-Mart on the Keeaumoku superblock and the potential for a second superblock should Meadow Gold consolidate and sell its properties and the closed section of Elm Street.
"I think it creates that potential for redevelopment without having had sufficient studying and measures taken to mitigate major redevelopment of a consolidated parcel," Crispin said.
Meadow Gold representative Thomas Yamabe said that the plans for the properties are not known.
