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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Mililani field is future site
of communications centerQuestion: Outside Wahiawa, just past the road leading to Leilehua Golf Course and adjacent to the National Guard Recruiting Office Building, there is a very large field that covers the area from Kamehameha Highway to the H-2 freeway and all the way down toward Kipapa. The area has been cleaned and a white fence was built around the entire area. No one seems to know what's planned there. Some have said it's for housing; others, a soccer field; and still others think a church. Can you please find out what's planned for that area?
Answer: Sandwich Isles Communications Inc. is planning to build a network operations center at that site, as part of its effort to provide high-speed broadband telecommunications services to Hawaiian homesteaders statewide.
However, only five acres, at most, of the 163-acre property at 320 Kamehameha Highway are expected to be needed for the facility, said Gil Tam, vice president of administration and community affairs for Sandwich Isles Communications.
Because the land is zoned agriculture, it has to be devoted primarily to agricultural use, and the company is looking at turning the rest of the property into an agriculture park.
Sandwich Isles has a conditional use permit to build the network center, but still must obtain permits from the city for design and construction.
Tam said everything is still in the planning process, but the idea is to build the center close to the National Guard armory and away from any residential properties. Construction is about two years away.
Currently housed downtown, Sandwich Isles had hoped to build its headquarters, with administrative and customer services, at the same site, but could not get the required zoning change, Tam said.
Instead, it obtained a conditional use permit from the city to build only a telecommunications facility to help manage overall network operations. "It'll be primarily equipment and the people to run that equipment," Tam said.
The company still has to determine "how to combine the administration, customer service and headquarters somewhere."
Sandwich Isles is a rural telephone company that services Hawaiian Home Lands both by a certificate from the Public Utilities Commission and with a license from the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Tam explained.
As Star-Bulletin Kauai correspondent Anthony Sommer reported last summer, Sandwich Isles' planned $500 million telecommunications system includes $400 million in loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Services. Most of the federal loan will be paid off by the Federal Communications Commission through the Universal Service Fund (see Kokua Line, June 8).
The Mililani center will be Sandwich Isles' primary facility on Oahu, while also offering the company "an opportunity to monitor the distribution of utilities to all the islands," Tam said. It now services more than 1,000 customers. The target is about 20,000.
"There are quite a few people on the waiting list," Tam said. "We're trying to get to all new (customers) and those who were not connected before," noting many people hadn't been connected to telephone services.
Regarding the fencing, Tam noted that after the company bought the property from Castle & Cooke, community members expressed concerns about the tall grass on the property being a fire hazard.
Because of that, "we cut it all down," he said. There also were problems with vandalism.
Meanwhile, the company, working with state and federal agencies, recently obtained approval for its soil and water conservation plan.
Plans for the agriculture park are still vague, although "we do want agriculture production of native plants, etc.," Tam said.
Q: A big white bus is always parked on Aiea Heights Drive between Kihewa Place and Pooholua Drive, obstructing traffic especially for residents trying to go on Aiea Heights Drive. It doesn't have a license. Is it legal for it to be there? It doesn't move.
A: A police officer marked the bus as being abandoned last week, after finding it had no license plates nor any VIN (vehicle identification number) on file.
The officer also notified the city's Motor Vehicle Control Section and was told action would be taken as soon as possible, said Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu.
In the meantime, however, the officer deemed that the bus does not pose a traffic hazard, she said.
In the future, you can call the city at 733-2530 to report apparent abandoned or derelict vehicles.
Q: Can you find out for our group of "handicapped golfers" who play at the Hickam Air Force Base's Par 3 Golf Course when they will replace the two disabled parking spaces that were in front of Building 2105? We noticed seven disabled parking spaces for use by patrons of the J.R. Rocker Club. Has consideration been ascertained for such spaces to be located across the street in the large parking lot of Building 2105?
A: The two reserved handicap parking spaces were considered a safety concern because they were directly on the street, said Hickam spokesman Lt. Paradon Silpasornprasit. They have since been relocated to the large parking lot across the street from Building 2105.
Meanwhile, there are seven reserved handicap spaces at the J.R. Rocker Club, the name of Hickam's new Enlisted Club, to accommodate the large number of people who visit that facility, Silpasornprasit said. "These are not located far from the golf course and may also be used at any time."
He added that "the Air Force remains extremely committed to the needs of the handicapped at all of our facilities."
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See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Got a question or complaint?
Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
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Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
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