Ka‘ū News Briefs, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022

Jeanné Kapela, member of the state House of Representatives sent out a message on Sunday about her
opposition to the luxury residential community planned for Opihihale, just north of Miloli'i. Photo from Kapela

OPPOSITION TO THE OPIHIHALE LUXURY HOUSING DEVELOPMENT proposal in South Kona has come from Jeanné Kapela who represents the area and parts of Ka'u in the state House of Representatives. Kapela headlined her statement on Sunday with "Kona is Not for Sale." She said, "Recently, a company called Kona Estates Fund II, LLC has been promoting what they refer to as an investment opportunity in The Kona Estates at Opihihale, a 324-acre luxury oceanfront project on the Kona Coast.
    "When I first heard about the project, I was shocked. Its developers claim that they are currently taking minimum pledges of at least $100,000 in the hopes of raising $20 million to build luxury estates for the wealthy along West Hawai'i's iconic and historic shorelines.
    "Kona Estates Fund II, LLC says that they are focused on sustainability, working with the community, and embracing the value of aloha. Yet, their project, at its core, shows no aloha for Hawai'i's people, who are facing a housing crisis," wrote Kapela.

A photo used on investinkona.com to encourage investment
 in the resort living development project proposed at Opihihale.

   "According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's 2022 Out of Reach report, the median wage needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment on Hawai'i Island without being cost burdened is $29.44/hour. The annual income required to afford a two-bedroom apartment is at least $61,240/year.
    "We do not need more luxury properties on the Kona Coast. We need housing that is affordable for local residents. Thankfully, those who are operating the Kona Estates Fund II, LLC development scheme have not applied for many of the necessary permits, giving us ample time to make our voices heard.
    "I am firmly opposed to any attempt to commodify our ʻāina for rich nonresident investors, who care little about the sustainability of our islands. If Kona Estates Fund II, LLC wants to show respect for the spirit of aloha, they will recognize that their project undermines the well-being of Hawai'i's people. As your representative, I will fight to put people before profit, always."
See the developers' online presentation with drone footage of the land at https://investinkona.com/the-project-location/.
    Kapela currently represents the state House of Representatives district from Honu'apo into Kona and is running in the General Election Nov. 8, is for the reconfigured district spanning from Volcano into South Kona. 
    Hawai'i Public Radio writer Ku'uwehi Hiraishi recently covered the Opihihale story. She wrote:                

A photo used on investinkona.com to encourage investment
 in the resort living development project proposed at Opihihale.

  "Community opposition is growing over concerns that the development doesn’t align with county plans, current zoning, or the vision of the surrounding local community. Hawaiʻi County Council Chair Maile David, who represents Ka'u and the Opihihale area, says she’s been receiving inquiries from constituents concerned over the proposed development. "It just took us, took me by surprise," David told Hiraishi. "When I started getting these emails saying they were going to develop Opihihale. And I said, ʻWhat? Who said so?'" Hiraishi wrote that David says she "is concerned the project doesn’t fit the community." Hiraishi's story noted that Opihihale land along Māmalahoa Highway at mile marker 93 was bought in 2018 by Beverly Hills-based Kona Development Partners. Jeff Darrow, deputy planning director for
Hawaiʻi County, told HPR that his department has not received any permit applications for the project.
    "We know as much as you do in the sense that we've been informed about this project mainly through complaints," says Darrow. "We’ve received a number of calls relating to a website called investinkona.com. It’s a website that’s asking for donations or investments in this project. Right now it’s asking for donations of $100,000 or more.
    "From a planning standpoint, they would have to go through a change of zone, and then they would also have to go through a special permit for this lodge operation," says Darrow. "A big part of being able to get approved for a rezoning requires a unit of water for each proposed lot or unit. My understanding is there is no county water available in that area." Darrow also told HPR that the Opihihale developers would need approvals from Planning Department, Leeward Planning Commission, and Hawaiʻi County Council to proceed.

A photo used on investinkona.com to encourage investment
 in the resort living development project proposed at Opihihale.

    "If you look at our Community Development Plans, that whole area in the South Kona area has been identified as areas worth preserving — left in agriculture and left in open space," says Darrow. "And so that makes the process to apply for something like this… that’s a huge hurdle." He noted that soliciting investors is nothing new to development projects of this size and that public hearings would be triggered once the developers seek approvals.
    "When the Planning Department receives an application and schedules a hearing date before the Leeward Planning Commission, at that time, there will be a public hearing," Darrow told HPR. "Additionally, once the application goes to the Hawaiʻi County Council, there will be other opportunities for public hearings."
    Listen to the Hawai'i Public Radio story at https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2022-08-31/investor-website-for-potential-luxury-development-in-opihihale-sparks-community-concerns?fbclid=IwAR0feSSnljPYL3BI2YCZ6R6X1NSR6PNzloe1UycrEqMZ2L5GUtIdcRoE6Bg.
    Read the Aug. 10 story on the proposed development in The Ka'u Calendar News Briefs at http://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022_08_10_archive.html and the Aug. 12 story with a video of the bulldozer at http://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022_08_12_archive.html.
    Read the cover story on Opihihale in the September edition of The Ka'u Calendar at www.kaucalendar.com and in print.

  A photo used on investinkona.com to encourage investment in the resort living development project proposed at Opihihale.

THE MANAGERS OF THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT AT OPIHIHALE are presented on the Kona Estates developers' website as bringing resort real estate experience to the project:

Andrew Rowland

    L.M. Pete Rowland, President/Principal/Manager has "a vast amount of experience throughout the resort, resort real estate, and destination real estate sector. During his forty-year career of development, management, sales, and marketing; he has created over $1B in resort and resort real estate sales activity. Projects include wholly owned properties and corporate clients such as Holiday Inn, Cendant, NASCAR, Hellman’s, Kahn’s, Block Pharmaceuticals, Jackson-Hewitt, Cape Canaveral Cruise Lines, Riviera Management, Sahara Management, Sol Melia Hotel Group, Ronnie Kovach Outdoor Expeditions, Westin, and Nanuku Auberge Resort Fiji."
   The website for Kona Development Partners also says that Pete Rowland "has been an innovator in the resort and resort real estate industry through its evolution and guided projects through various economic cycles and trends, is strongly positioned to lead Kona Development Partners and its subsidiaries through

A photo used on investinkona.com to encourage investment
 in the resort living development project proposed at Opihihale.

the investment period The Kona Estates project."
    The site also introduces VP and Principle Manager Andrew Rowland, saying he has "eighteen years of professional experience in the resort marketing, sales, management, and development sectors. Andrew has also consulted on the formation of equity fund partnerships; giving him a keen understanding of both individual investors and the equity fund as a whole.
    "Most recently, Andrew developed and executed marketing programs for the client, Nanuku Auberge Resort Fiji. He specialized in marketing luxury residential-resort properties and estates to investors and affluent clientele by blending traditional and digital-age marketing into one unique program. Andrew will draw on his experience as a past owner/general manager of a full-service hotel property, an investment fund consultant, and a luxury marketing director to execute his duties as a principal of Kona Development Partners and its subsidiaries."  See more on the developers' presentation at www.investinkona.com.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar. See latest print edition at wwwkaucalendar.com. See upcoming events at https://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022/04/upcoming-events-for-kau-and-volcano.html.

The Trojan Cross Country team from Volcano School of the Arts & Sciences and Kaʻū High is comprised of Darcie Kanehailua, Cheska Aurelio, Coach David Wells, Cody Rasmussen and Alden Wells. Photo from Trojans Cross Country

The 2022 TROJAN CROSS COUNTRY TEAM has completed five cross country meets at different schools all over the island, with three remaining.  The team is comprised of Volcano School of the Arts & Sciences students Darcie Kanehailua, Cheska Aurelio and Alden Wells and Kaʻū High student Cody Rasmussen.
    Coach David Wells, who teaches at Volcano, said, "Athletes have steadily improved and three have qualified for the Big Island Invitational meet where the top 30 runners qualify to the state tournament to be held in Kaua'i in late October."
    Upcoming Cross Country meets will be at Waiki'i Ranch on Saturday, Oct. 1, beginning at 9 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Big Island Interscholastic Federation Championships at Kamehameha School at 9 a.m. and on Saturday, Oct. 29 at the state championships on Kaua'i.

KAʻŪ TROJAN GIRLS VOLLEYBALL TAKES ON PAHOA with a home game on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at the Robert E Herkes Kaʻū District Gym. Start time is 5 p.m. for JV, followed by Varsity.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar. See latest print edition at wwwkaucalendar.com. See upcoming events at https://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022/04/upcoming-events-for-kau-and-volcano.html.

 

See September issue of The Kaʻū Calendar
at www.kaucalendar.com, and in the
mail - Volcano, Kaʻū to South Kona.

Ka‘ū News Briefs, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022

Friends of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park is working with descendants of the Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau  
area to build a Friends group there. Photo from Hawai'i Public Radio

FRIENDS OF HAWAI'I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK is working with Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park to create its own Friends group, according to a story from Hawai'i Public Radio reporter Ku'uwehi Hirashi this week. A private donation of $70,000 will help to establish the Friends group, according to the Friends President & CEO Elizabeth Fien. 

     According to the HPR story, Fien noted that "Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau in South Kona was brought into the national park system in 1955. But its history as a place of refuge for ancient Hawaiian lawbreakers goes back centuries.

    “So certain people and places and things and times were sacred. They were kapu or forbidden, and any breaking of a kapu would disturb the stability of the society and the punishment was often death. Any fugitive who broke the kapu could seek refuge within the walls of puʻuhonua. So in some senses, this is probably one of the very first sanctuary cities,” Fien told HPR.

Friends of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park is helping to create a Friends group
 at Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau. Photo from Hawai'i Public Radio

   Friends of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park has been operating for 25 years, sponsoring the Youth Ranger Program, which is well attended by Kaʻū High School students. It also offers Guardians of the Trails, Forest Restoration, Institute on Demand Private Tours, Wild Cave Exploration and more. Activities include removal of endangered species, improvement of trails and cultural programs and events.
    Fien told HPR that "About four years ago I was visiting Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau and I was struck — There was a real spiritual connection — I was struck by the park, but I was also struck by the fact that so many things needed help there. Repairs need to be done and more cultural programs need to happen. So when this grant came along, I thought it would be perfect."

Elizabeth Fien, President & CEO of Friends of
Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, is working
to establish a Friends organization at 
Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau National Historic Park.

    Friends of Hawai'i Volcanoes applied and received $70,000 through the National Park Foundation’s Strong Parks, Strong Communities program to work with a group of community stakeholders, including descendants of the area, to form the Friends of Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park.
    “This grant enables us to do things like the marketing materials, website, membership,” Fien told HPR. “And our first major project that we want to tackle is we want to create an environmental cultural learning center. That’s a big project, but it’s what the descendants and stakeholders would love to see happen.”
    Fien said a web site for the Pu'uhonua O Hōnaunau Friends should be online soon. See more at Friends of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park website at fhvnp.org.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar. See latest print edition at wwwkaucalendar.com. See upcoming events at https://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022/04/upcoming-events-for-kau-and-volcano.html.

THE TREND OF MIGRATING TO HAWAI'I ISLAND from O'ahu was featured in a Pacific Business News story on Saturday. It also noted that the state of Hawai'i’s "declining population due to net out-migration" is something policymakers and economists "have been worriedly watching." The story also noted that data on intra-state migrants from 2019 to 2020 adds IRS figures on the money attached to these movers. "They ranged from somewhat wealthier than the people we lost, to significantly so, depending on which island. Of Hawai'i’s four counties, Honolulu is the net loser, shedding nearly 4,000 more people than it gained, whose combined adjusted gross income was just over $162 million. With the data emphasizing tax filers, PBN reached out to Tom Yamachika, President of Tax Foundation of Hawai'i. Yamachika told PBN, “We have been warning lawmakers for several years now that our state has been losing people. News media and some local nonprofits have been trying to find out why this is so, and have been told by many that they are unable to make ends meet here between the high cost of living and taxes. We have told

lawmakers that the tax environment here in Hawai'i already has reached a point where people are ‘voting with their feet’ and getting on a plane with a one-way ticket out of here. The more that happens, the more pressure there will be for lawmakers to either force the rest of us who remain to make up for the lost revenue, or to right-size government services to match the dwindling population. Historically, lawmakers have been severely reluctant to downsize government services and programs, so the rest of us who call Hawai'i home are in trouble."
    The PBN story noted that "people don’t just move between states, they also move between counties in Hawai'i. From 2019 to 2020, the single largest intra-island migration was the 724 people who moved from Honolulu to Hawai'i Island. The second largest migration? The 542 people who moved from Hawai'i Island to O'ahu. PBN also reported that "It’s noteworthy that for every Hawai'i county, this analysis finds that the new arrivals out-earn the Hawai'i residents they replaced. Connecting the dots that young families are leaving, and that tax filers with annual incomes at $60,000 are leaving, the data support longstanding perceptions that the cost of living drives our exodus."

    Joe Kent, Executive Vice President of Grassroot Institute Hawai'i, told PBN that "Hawai'i may be becoming an attractive place for high earners to move to, and that could help diversify our economy. But the numbers also seem to show that the Hawai'i residents with lower incomes are fleeing for the Mainland in search of a lower cost of living. Lawmakers should focus on lowering costs and allowing more opportunities, such as by reducing taxation and regulations, which could help families across the board afford to stay in the Islands.”
    PBN also reported on the population change from 2019 to 2020. "Right in the middle of that time period, in January 2020, PBN reported on findings by CBRE and University of Hawai'i Economic Research Organization that Hawai'i had already become a net population loser due to stagnant wages and high costs. The labor force had shrunk by 25,000 people since 2017. As a result, Hawai'i’s GDP growth, UHERO projected, would be half that of the Mainland’s by 2040.

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar. See latest print edition at wwwkaucalendar.com. See upcoming events at https://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022/04/upcoming-events-for-kau-and-volcano.html.

KAʻŪ TROJANS RACKED UP 14 POINTS AGAINST HPA ON SATURDAY at home. The loss to the Ka Makani of Hawai'i Preparatory Academy, was six points as Kaʻū continues to score and narrow losses as the season progresses, under coach Greg Rush. The Trojans, comprised of talent from Kaʻū High and Volcano School of the Arts & Sciences, next plays Honoka'a on Saturday, Oct. 1 at the ball field in Pāhala.

KAʻŪ TROJAN GIRLS VOLLEYBALL TAKES ON PAHOA with a home game on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at the Robert E Herkes Kaʻū District Gym. Start time is 5 p.m. for JV, followed by Varsity. 

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see www.facebook.com/kaucalendar. See latest print edition at wwwkaucalendar.com. See upcoming events at https://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022/04/upcoming-events-for-kau-and-volcano.html.

 

See September issue of The Kaʻū Calendar
at www.kaucalendar.com, and in the
mail - Volcano, Kaʻū to South Kona.