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/.