Puna Community Development Meetings

[Carey]

Hi! Just wondering if anyone went to the meeting in Nanawale last night (2/23)? How was it? Is anyone planning to go tonight at HPP, tommorrow at the Keaau Com Center, or March 3 up in Volcano (6-8:30)? I have only seen one itty bitty notice for these meetings in the paper, but have not heard or seen anything on them since.
Aloha, Carey



Edited by - Rob Tucker on 02/25/2006 17:55:04

[Carey]

The Keaau meeting is the 28th (I knew it, but didn't type it, mind was on other things.....)

[Rob Tucker]

I went to the HPP meeting. It was rather well run. The county is running out a method involving small home gatherings to gain input on development.

An interesting question was asked which basically was:
Community input was taken, after a lot of effort, in past years and apparently just gathered dust at the planning department. What makes this effort different?

There was a repeated effort by the county to anticipate this question and they were constantly saying that this time your input will really, really, really be listened to.

I myself am not completely cynical. One attendant did point out that this is an election year.......

I am very interested in how to prevent -20 years from now - Hwy. 130 from becoming one long stretch of strip malls. If even one commercial rezoning is allowed on that road then a precedent will be set and the area will go commerical. Aside from being ugly and dangerous with all the traffic impplications the towns of Pahoa and Keaau could really be hurt.

I would like to see intelligent pockets of commercial/industrial zoning created in and around Pahoa, Keaau, Mountain View, Kurtistown and Volcano. I would like to see Hwy. 130 remain an "agricultural" or residential corridor. As unstressful and easy on the eye as possible.

HPP has created pockets of land within it's subdivision for commercial uses and I think that is good planning. If we can intelligently develop businesses, services and jobs locally we can reduce the number of car trips into Hilo. Live, work and play closer to home. The new commercial development in Orchidland is ideal in my opinion.

My 2 cents. I will participate in the county process as best I can and would encourage everyone else to also.

Chairman, Punaweb Committee, MSPA

[JerryCarr]

Rob, I must say I think your ideas about development make more sense than just about anything else I have heard. The highway corridor presents so many issues and so many competing interests that it will never be sorted out without causing grief for someone. The traffic and evacuation issues will probably reach the boiling point long before the County figures out that overdevelopment needs to be addressed, too. Making the highway 4-lane and/or building an alternate are being actively discussed. 4-laning will make the people on the highway angry and encourage more strip development. NOBODY wants the alternate route to go through THEIR neighborhood. As a resident of HPP, I understand that most of the alternate plans include running something through here, which the Association vehemently opposes. Given the speed at which things get done around here, we will be strangling in traffic AND bad development before anything gets done, and most of us will probably not be happy with the result.

[Rob Tucker]

Thanks Jerry, Mainstreet Pahoa Assoc. (MSPA) is trying to take a watchdog approach to the Hwy. 130 corridor. This takes some effort. It takes time to get someone downto the planning commission hearings and once there it can take a few hours of patiently waiting for the agenda item to speak on.

We try to keep our interests focused. MSPA won't presume to tell HPP how to plan their community but we would like to see if we could all be on the same page on pertinent issues like the Hwy 130 corridor.

I hope some more people can get involved with us. This next few years will see more and more activity on development in Puna.



Chairman, Punaweb Committee, MSPA

[Carey]

Went to the Keaau meeting. These meetings are set-up to get a pool of people to attend small group planning meetings held over the next 2 months to help draft the Puna Development Plan. SOOO...if you want to input, go to the last general meeting & sign up for small group. (They did not explain how to get into the small grroup pool if you do not attend a general meeting....but its seems there should a way...
Aloha, carey