Puna Makai Route “Soon”

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

As for PMAR, they mentioned that the study was getting underway, but the first public meetings are still "months away."… Greggor Ilagan grabbed the third rail of Hawaii politics and said that a route through Hawaiian Homelands should be considered.

I received this contact info for the PMAR consultant from Rep. Ilagan today:

Hawaii County hired Wilson Okamoto Corporation as the consultant for the PMAR project. Below is the contact person:

Keola Cheng, Planning Director
1907 South Beretania Street, Suite 400
Honolulu, Hawaii 96826
Telephone: (808) 946-2277
Fax: (808) 946-2253
http://www.wilsonokamoto.com

[TomK]

Just out of curiosity, how many PMAR consultants have there been?

[HiloJulie]

I'd say the chances of having greatly expanded geothermal power along with possibly the eucalyptus wood burning power plant coming on line having a far better chance of occurring than PMAR, in any iteration imaginable, will ever have.

But one thing will be for certain - Hilo will get yet another new park! 

And a State one at that!

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I received a newsletter from Gregor Ilagan.  There are some updates on the alternate route.  This was what stood out for me:

However, full construction of the alternate route is expected to require substantially more funding, likely in the hundreds of millions, meaning additional state and potentially federal investments will be necessary to bring the project to completion.

State funding of hundreds of millions?
Federal funding for Hawaii?

Maybe it’s time to stagger the start and finish time for county workers and schools so they’re not all on the road at the same time.  Except the orange cone guys, they still gotta start first thing in the morning.

[ChunksterK]

The money factor is why I have never put any credence in the promises by Little Greggie and a dozen other politicians to build anything. Somebody's cousin got a couple of million to do the current study that will be totally out of date and worthless in the unlikely event there ever is any funding.

I'm with HOTPE. Compulsory staggered opening times would help, at least in the short term. In the long term, continued growth will swamp that effort. Even if property insurance issues slow down building in Lava Zones 1 and 2, there will be people willing to take the risks of going uninsured, not to mention hardcore survivalist and modern pioneer types.

As the sign on the road to Hilo said this morning: "EXPECT DELAYS"

[Durian Fiend]

...  In the long term, continued growth will swamp that effort.  Even if property insurance issues slow down building in Lava Zones 1 and 2, there will be people willing to take the risks of going uninsured, not to mention hardcore survivalist and modern pioneer types.

As the sign on the road to Hilo said this morning: "EXPECT DELAYS"

How built out is HPP?   I've read it's only around 50%.  Lava zone 1 and 2 properties could be a relatively small factor in the growth of Highway 130 traffic compared to larger subdivisions such as HPP and Orchidlands.

[kalakoa]

How built out is HPP?   I've read it's only around 50%.

Isn't HPP 8500 lots? Half of that, assuming 2 persons/household, is 8500 people.

My town is smaller than that... and we have our own grocery store, gas station, ACE hardware, and multiple highways to the next town.

Important to note: we have these things because they already existed. Nothing will be built at the prices inflicted by today's economy.

Puna really needs to accept the simple fact that planning cannot be retrofitted. Everything is what you already have, where-is, as-is.

If you want something different/better in your lifetime, move to a place that has those things.

[ironyak]

we have our own grocery store, gas station, ACE hardware, and multiple highways ... move to a place that has those things.
So like Kea'au? Or for those with big needs, stop the daily Drive to Hilo, and just Move to Hilo? Makes sense to me.

TBF, we have a Puna Makai Route from Shower to 4 Corners, via Railroad in HPP, Railroad between HPP and Beaches (worked fine last time when it was open) to Kahakai to the "newly" paved Government Road. It's there, and works when needed - it's just not some high-speed thoroughfare, which again, makes sense to me. No reason to turn lower Puna into the 'burbs.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

HPP has a current estimated population of 13,500 - 15,000.  Population estimate at build out is 30,000.  

When I was young the town I lived in had a population of 12,000. We had approximately 5 gas stations, 3 full size supermarkets, multiple corner stores, banks, movie theaters, a downtown with everything. As kids we walked to school, the roads weren’t clogged with every individual parent driving their children to school.  If I wanted a giant candy bar for 5 cents, or my parents needed a loaf of bread I walked a block and bought it.  No petroleum burning required. I could safely ride my bike to visit almost any friend in town.  Or the library, or the airport to crawl around inside old WWII bombers that for some reason landed there and never took off again.  

HPP has 20 acre parcels set aside for businesses, schools, parks.  This was a selling point, so it’s not that we moved here and only now want to change things, it’s that people bought homes and can’t live in a normal town as promised. It’s almost as if the developers were allowed to subdivide 8000 acres, given county approval with the agreement they would provide services by retaining ownership of the only properties zoned for those services, and then reneged and held those services hostage because they are also the owners of a shopping center in Keaau and another in Pahoa.

And they’re not even billionaires.  So I suppose it could be worse.

[ironyak]

given county approval with the agreement they would provide services by retaining ownership of the only properties zoned for those services
To nitpick, of the six 20 acre lots on Kaloli, only 1 is owned by the County, 3 are Watumull, and 2 are HPPOA owned. On Maku'u, of the six 20 acre properties, 4 are owned by HPPOA, 1 by Watumull, and 1 by the Malamalama Waldorf school.
https://qpublic.schneidercorp.com/Application.aspx?AppID=1048&LayerID=23618&PageTypeID=1&PageID=9875

What's stopping HPPOA from developing any of the 6 lots they own that were set aside to achieve that idyllic small town vibe? (also is there any budget for some shoulders/bike trails along those roads - going to need some space if you want to bike to Mom & Pop Store without ending up food for the mongooses! ;)