A long-delayed and controversial $170 million West Hawaii housing project is returning to the Leeward Planning Commission in January after months of cultural review.
Last December, developers KVS LLC and Kona Three LLC requested from the commission a 10-year extension to complete their Royal Vistas project, a planned 450-unit multiple-family housing project just north of Holualoa. The project was envisioned in 1983 as a twin to the adjacent Kona Vistas subdivision.
But that request was punted to the Hawaii County Cultural Resources Commission after extensive criticism by neighbors of the project, who contended the 69-acre parcel contains cultural sites, burial sites and habitats for endangered indigenous birds such as the ‘io and pueo.
The Cultural Resources Commission discussed the project last summer, and their recommendations will be the subject of the Leeward Planning Commission’s first 2024 meeting.
However, those recommendations might not be to the developers’ liking.
The CRC’s final meeting on the subject in July ended with the commission voting unanimously to recommend the site be preserved in perpetuity or, if that is not feasible, that further documentation be made of the cultural history of the area in order for it to be integrated into the project’s design.
The panel also recommended that the development plan be modified to include larger open space areas to better protect the sensitive sites.
“So, the (Leeward Planning) Commission could end the project as it was initially planned,” planning consultant Daryn Arai told the Tribune-Herald on Monday.
The question of whether preservation is “feasible” ultimately will be determined by Hawaii County officials and the developers, Arai said.
Arai explained that the property was nominated as a potential site for preservation under the county’s Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resource Preservation Commission. But because that nomination was not made with the support of Kona Three LLC, the property owner, he said it doesn’t appear that the PONC can act on the nomination.
“So, just based on this, it seems not feasible,” Arai said.
Arai said the developers requested that the Leeward Planning Commission postpone discussion on the matter from Nov. 16 to next January in order for them to review how their project plans can be modified to meet the CRC’s recommendations, which he acknowledged might be fundamentally at odds with building a 450-unit housing development.
That said, Arai added that Royal Vistas, as a multifamily development, might have more leeway in terms of arranging buildings as to avoid sensitive areas.
Some neighbors might think otherwise, however. The July CRC meeting attracted testimony from dozens of residents condemning the project and urging the commission to preserve the land.
Resident Cindy Freitas and several others specifically noted that there is substantial evidence that the project site features remnants of a traditional holua slide (a Hawaiian sled course) that should be preserved.
Other testifiers argued the developers’ cultural surveys of the property were not comprehensive and missed other cultural sites.
“Following the legacy of the ages and honoring our histories and cultural foundations, it would be only prudent to require that any developer must absolutely prove there is no cultural, historical or lineal entanglements on the property,” wrote Kailua-Kona residents Derek and Renée Inaba.
Arai said the developers already have gone through a multiyear process involving a years-long environmental assessment “just so the applicants could ask for another 10 years.”
If the Leeward Planning Commission approves the extension next year, he said work on the project could continue until 2034.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.