KAILUA-KONA — A notice to proceed on the Lako Street extension could be issued later this year.
KAILUA-KONA — A notice to proceed on the Lako Street extension could be issued later this year.
If all goes smoothly, the mauka-makai connector/emergency route could open for use in 2019, said county Department of Public Works Director Frank DeMarco.
It’s currently estimated the extension will cost about $12 million.
The project will extend Lako Street nearly 1,900 feet from its current terminus near the Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity to Alii Drive in Kailua-Kona, providing egress and ingress between the makai road and Kuakini Highway. It would meet Alii Drive near Holualoa Bay.
The county has planned to extend Lako Street since the turn of the century, but has been unable to bring it to fruition. Now, a private developer is taking the reins to complete the project, with the resulting new portion of the road to be deeded to the county.
Canada-based Berezan Management submitted on March 2, 2015, plans for a road realignment that included a roundabout at the extension’s terminus with Alii Drive. Since, it had draft plans reviewed, including a traffic impact analysis report, and the county now is waiting for the developer to address comments from engineers, De Marco said.
The road project is part of a fair-share contribution allowing for a development on four parcels owned by RMB #20 Hawaii, whose lone officer is listed as Ralph Berezan, owner of the above referenced development company. The development does not yet have a name, according to Public Works Deputy Director Allan Simeon.
The parcels together cover 22.58 acres from Alii Drive to Lako Street, according to property tax records.
The developer is also actively working on plans for the State Historic Preservation Division to ensure archaeological features are “protected and preserved,” DeMarco said. The plan needs to be approved by the division before the project can proceed.
“There is a number of archaeological features,” DeMarco said. “An entire community was associated with this area this was no small thing and it’s probably going to take some time.”
The county has planned to extend Lako Street since at least 2000, when an environmental assessment was undertaken. The final EA was completed in fall 2004, with a finding of no significant impact.
County officials began meeting with West Hawaii residents in late 2007 in an attempt to address community concerns about the proposed extension.
By 2014, the county said it still did not have a timeline for building the road.
Email Chelsea Jensen at cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com.