A planning process that will guide development from Wainaku to Waipio Valley is nearing its final stretch after seven years of meetings and talk-story sessions. ADVERTISING A planning process that will guide development from Wainaku to Waipio Valley is nearing
A planning process that will guide development from Wainaku to Waipio Valley is nearing its final stretch after seven years of meetings and talk-story sessions.
The steering committee for the Hamakua Community Development Plan will meet today at the Laupahoehoe Library to consider approving revisions to its draft document before sending it to Hawaii County for review.
Brad Kurokawa, committee chairman, said the plan’s goals include protecting the area’s rural character and avoiding sprawl.
“It’s been a long haul,” he said. “I feel that it’s been a good process.”
Some controversy recently flared up over proposed land use guide map changes the committee will take up today.
Steve Shropshire, who owns Hakalau Point, claims a proposed designation change for the site from industrial and low-density urban to open would kill his development plans. He said he would file a lawsuit if he is denied a Special Management Area permit as a result.
“It’s basically taking private property rights without compensation,” Shropshire said.
But county Planning Department officials say his project — which Shropshire said focuses on promoting local “value-added agriculture products” — won’t be affected by the plan itself, which still requires review from county staff and approval from the Windward Planning Commission and County Council.
“(The plan) is an expression of preferences for future uses,” said Ron Whitmore, county senior long-range planner.
Even if the designation is adopted in the county’s General Plan, Shropshire could still seek approval for his project because zoning would remain the same, county planner LeAna Gloor said in an email.
“Currently, the property in question in Hakalau is zoned Industrial and the landowner is within his rights to pursue development in line with the property’s permitted uses (which are determined by zoning),” she said.
A change in zoning request could be impacted by the designation. Shropshire said he is no longer seeking that.
Shropshire’s project previously included a single-family home development, with two existing warehouses from the former Hakalau Sugar Plantation Co. being repurposed for agricultural use and shops.
His latest proposal includes the two historic warehouses but replaces the homes with 13 other buildings for agricultural and limited industrial use. A restaurant, farmers market and small park also are part of his concept.
Some Hakalau residents want to see the point made into a park without being developed, and Shropshire has been under pressure from the County Council to sell the land for public use.
Shropshire also has claimed the plan’s steering committee acted improperly by considering the land use map revision since that came from Kurokawa, who drafted a park plan for the property on behalf of the Hakalau Point Preservation Association, which opposes Shropshire’s development.
“The committee is moving ahead as if it was their property,” he said.
Kurokawa said he recused himself from an earlier vote on the revision after being asked.
“In hindsight, that was an oversight, a mistake, on my part to do that,” he said, regarding proposing the revision himself.
But, Kurokawa said, it was not done to target Shropshire’s project, which he also noted wouldn’t be directly impacted. He said the change reflects the plan’s goal of preventing development near cliffs and protecting open space.
“I would like to think the CDP process has been very open and transparent,” he said. “We try to listen to the community.”
The steering committee’s meeting is at 6 p.m. in the library at 35-2065 Old Mamalahoa Highway.
The draft plan and other supporting documents can be viewed at www.hawaiicountycdp.info/hamakua-cdp.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
