Several years ago, GKK Makalei LLC’s owners approached then Fire Chief Darryl Oliveira with a question.
Several years ago, GKK Makalei LLC’s owners approached then Fire Chief Darryl Oliveira with a question.
“I asked Darryl, how much money have you got?” developer Tom Yamamoto said, recounting that conversation. “He said nothing.”
That was an OK answer, Yamamoto responded.
“That’s what the price is” for several acres of land at Makalei, which owner Peter Lynch decided he wanted to give to Hawaii County for a new North Kona fire station.
County officials blessed and opened that fire station Monday morning. Fire Department personnel won’t be stationed at the dual fire and hazardous materials company for at least another week, Chief Darren Rosario said.
The station will house 15 personnel, five per shift in three 24-hour shifts, he added. The department is discussing with the state the possibility of eventually assigning an ambulance and medic crew to the station, he said.
Oliveira recounted some of the many hurdles he and his department overcame to get the station built and open. The County Council in 1997 first passed an ordinance with $1.6 million in funding for the station. Estimates in 2010 pegged the cost at about $10 million, but design and construction, partially funded with $4 million in federal stimulus money, came to $6.7 million.
The department moved from “one obstacle to another,” including liens on the land it was originally intending to use, south of the Makalei site, issues with the entrance on Mamalahoa Highway and other safety concerns, Oliveira said.
“At one point, we had to say we have to move on,” he said. Then, “Tom Yamamoto and Peter Lynch approached us.”
Yamamoto said Lynch decided, with 1,600 acres, he could afford to give a few to the county.
Getting the land didn’t stop the obstacles. Once the department began an environmental impact statement, it discovered a native tree species growing on the property that prompted a design re-evaluation.
The finished station is the largest on the island, with a training room for classes inside and a tower outside firefighters can use for ladder training.
“It is designed for growth,” Rosario said. “It has the space available, as we have the need to grow outward.”
Hannah Springer offered some cultural and historical context about the land and the name Makalei during the blessing. Makalei was a boy whose family moved to the area long ago and who located a water cave on what became Hue Hue Ranch. The cave bore his name, and people later gave the name to the golf course, a neighborhood and now the fire station, which helps keep the boy’s legacy alive, Springer said.