Puna Makai Alternate route

[DanielP]

Is there a defined route to be assesed, or is the EIR intended to weigh the impacts of various routes?
Ed to say that I misread EIS for EIR.
Dan

[Rob Tucker]

There is no defined route except in Weatherford's imagination. The EIS is intended to determine IF PMAR is needed, what impacts would be and possible routes, alternatives and capacities.

[OrchidIslander]

quote:

---

Originally posted by james weatherford

The statement "James Weatherford and his committee" -- is not my[u] committee.
The statement that the committee opposed PMAR -- the committee asked for scoping before an EIS; this after a year of talking to people and gathering information from government officials and the community and determining the County was not being forthcoming and was not going to talk with the community until the project was already underway.

---

Aloha Dr Weatherford:

I'm curious, what exactly is scoping? Is it absolutely necessary for it to be done prior to an EIS? Or can it be contained within the EIS?

I'm also curious how it was determined that the County was not being forthcoming? What exactly did the County do - or didn't do? What caused the committee to have a suspicion that the County was not going to communicate with the community until the project was underway?

Not taking sides here - I'm really, really curious.

Thanks

[Seeb]

Saying there is no defined route is of asking what your definition of " IS " is
Shipman and HPP run from 130 to the Sea. how do you not go thru them ?

[james weatherford]

I'll try to address the questions above in one post:

The route, the width, and what was and was not provided by the County...
The County would not indicate exactly where the road would begin or where it would end, beyond saying "Nanawale to Hilo".
As previously indicated, the approximate traverse of HPP would be between 5th and 15th Avenue. This is mauka of the tsunami zone and, as required in the original state legislation, through an area with fewest developed lots.
After multiple requests from the committee, the County said a major rural collector was what they were planning for but refused to discuss possible widths. The committee's research indicated that meant 120'. When presented with this number, the County said, yes that is correct.

Scoping...
Brief notes from what has been done in other scoping studies for roads.
Scoping is the first major step of several needed to meet the long-term goal. (Thus, precedes an EA or EIS).
Develops and evaluates alternatives.
Transportation needs are delineated, such as with traffic volumes.
Community Inventory: Values, Goals, and Objectives. Summarizes early input received from project stakeholders and discusses the development of the project’s goals and objectives, which helps to refine and screen project alternatives.
Feasibility: identifies the most promising alternatives including specific alignment.

The starting places of traffic volumes, alternatives, and community inventory have not been done to date and all would be used in the next step, an EA or EIS.

[Cagary]

Does "120'" mean two lanes in each direction?

[Rob Tucker]

JAmes, Is it true or not that you or others have had the scope redefined to include a mauka route as well as a makai route?

[james weatherford]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cagary

Does "120'" mean two lanes in each direction?

---

That I cannot say with certainty.
My impression was that 120' wide allowed room for two lanes each way.

[james weatherford]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Rob Tucker

JAmes, Is it true or not that you or others have had the scope redefined to include a mauka route as well as a makai route?

---

The committee has not defined the scope for mauka or makai.
We simply asked the County to start at the beginning, with a scoping study, for whatever they were going to do.

The mauka option has come into play with the change in the state legislation (for $1.5 million) in 2012. Originally, as passed in 2011, the legislation explicitly identified HPP and required the corridor to be where there were the fewest developed lots. In the 2012 legislative session, the language was changed to talk about only an alternative route and removed any mention of HPP.

[Rob Tucker]

So then it would be correct to say that the $1.5 million EIS funding is not intended to solely examine a route through HPP? IS that change of language something you support?