KAILUA-KONA — A proposal from a local company to build a commercial center at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority would give local drivers a new spot to fill up the tank and support NELHA’s mission of sustainability.
Details about the Matsuyama Commercial Center, proposed by Mats4 LLC, are included in a draft environmental assessment published earlier this week, which anticipates the project to have no significant impact.
Comments on the proposal are due June 7 and should be sent to NELHA.
The proposal includes a six-pump filling station, a 2,450-square-foot convenience retail store with restrooms, a 2,500-square-foot kitchen and restaurant as well as covered and open seating areas.
It would also include an initial two charging stations for electric vehicles and 37 parking spaces, including two that meet federal disability standards.
Greg Barbour, NELHA executive director, said they’re excited about the proposal, adding the company, Mats4 LLC, shares NELHA’s goals of sustainability and being eco-friendly.
“They’re very interested in the community, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “And that was what we were looking for.”
The project would be situated in NELHA’s “economic driver” zone, outlined in its 2011 master plan.
That master plan said the economic driver zone is intended to “highlight NELHA and provide a priority retail outlet for NELHA tenants and secondarily other Hawaii Island products.”
NELHA said in December 2016 that it was seeking “eco-friendly” developers for a 1.3-acre lot along the frontage road that opened in September and runs makai of Queen Kaahumanu Highway and between Makako Bay Drive and Kaiminani Drive.
The road, at the time, was envisioned to be a “major secondary road for commercial, industrial and retail development” in the area between Kailua-Kona and Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole.
The draft environmental assessment for the proposal says the project would provide “much-needed” facilities and services on the makai side of Queen Kaahumanu Highway.
Currently, there aren’t any other facilities for southbound traffic traveling on the highway from Waikoloa to Kailua-Kona.
The closest fueling station to the airport is more than 3 miles south and on the highway’s mauka side, the report said, and doesn’t include charging stations for electric vehicles.
Barbour said the agency approved in-concept the Matsuyama Commercial Center proposal about a year ago.
They had received three proposals, he said, noting that this one “matched our criteria the closest.”
“They paid a lot of attention to our brand,” he said, specifically noting the inclusion of photovoltaic panels, charging stations for electric vehicles and other sustainability-minded efforts.
NELHA can’t officially approve the lease until the environmental assessment is approved, Barbour said. The draft document anticipates that the project will not significantly change the environment, saying “impacts will be minimal.”
A final decision will be made after considering comments to the draft EA. The document is available online through the state Department of Health Office of Environmental Quality Control’s website at https://health.hawaii.gov/oeqc/.
Will there be a place for NELHA tenants can sell their products?
I suggest you heed the advice from Aarton Steen and review/comment on the FEA. It should have all the details in it. My main concern was that cultural sites could be in the area. I reviewed the area prior to the Queen Kaahumanu highway expansion starting, and I resurveyed the area about a month ago to confirm that there were no cultural sites in the area.
You never know where those chicken bones show up.
People who disrespect the people and culture of a place should Du Mhan Yhu. You can thank the idiot giving you thumbs up for that.
Speak english if you want to be heard beyond your tribe.
There are no tribes in my country valea ti’o.
Local Hawaiian’ act just like a tribe. If you are not a tribe then why did Akaka use the native Indian settlement to justify his bill?
If it walks like duck and quacks like duck…
How exactly do you see Hawaiians acting like a tribe? That duck you mentioned is known as federal recognition, which is opposed by the vast majority of Hawaiians. Clearly 95+% opposed it when the DOI held hearings in Hawaii. That percentage was on every island. If you took the time to talk to Hawaiians you might be able speak from a position of knowledge rather than assumptions. So far you’re batting zero.
If everyone hated it – why did it pass?
This sounds like a worthless project….drive 2 miles and go to the station off Honokohau or Ohana Fuels off Hulikoa. Sounds lie Matsuyama Market is losing business to Ohana Mini Mart and wants to stop the bleeding. Nothing about this sound remotely links to sustainability and being eco-friendly. A couple of charging stations is nothing to pay to get the gas station and 7/11 look alike built to ring the register..
If you feel this strongly against this project, why don’t you submit your comments so they can be included in the FEA. Its easy to express your opposition here, but it won’t change anything.
And your problem is? Don’t want a charging station? Why? That part of the island is trying to think ahead a bit. NELHA will have a hydrogen charging sometime soon. Ocean Thermal Energy is slated for that area in the future. The whole area could be a PV site close to the diesel generator. For a long time now people have been trying to fly a public/private partnership large scale PV system where people in shady areas that cannot use rooftop solar could invest and get credit off their electric bill. Why not? How are we ever going to transition to 100% renewals without some forward thinking?
Forward think on your own dime….not taxpayer subsidized pipe dreams of 100% renewal energy.
I go to NELHA about three times a year to buy seafood. I know people that work at the NEHLA admin offices. I even applied for a job at what was then a bio-fuels place.
It is a pretty rugged place but if someone can make money there why not let them?
I think the electric car angle is stupid, but liberals don’t think anything through.
Another guy here was talking about Hydrogen, fine, make it affordable if you can,
You won’t be able to.
The real problem is Matsuyama Market may not like the competition.
Most stuff here in Hawaii is all political or racial. Facts and data really don’t matter
to Democrats.