KAILUA-KONA — As plans to upgrade the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant continue to materialize, so to do plans to develop a large regional park in the area.
James Komata of the Hawaii County Department of Parks and Recreation on Friday announced that the department will move forward with an environmental assessment of the Kealakehe Regional Park, expecting to have a contract out for the assessment in the coming months.
The announcement prompted applause at the Alliance for a Sustainable Ahupuaa Ninth Annual Puwalu, held Friday at the West Hawaii Civic Center.
Komata said they plan to work closely with the Department of Environmental Management moving forward, given that the same site will also hold the soil aquifer treatment systems planned as part of upgrades at the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The county has been trying to build the park for decades, according to news files, including unsuccessful efforts to build a sports complex and an 18-hole golf course. In January 2011, then-Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed an amended executive notice putting the 190 acres under the county’s jurisdiction for a regional park.
During Friday’s meeting, Komata said they plan to start the EA process shortly, but don’t want to get too far ahead of the treatment plant upgrades, adding that a lot of issues that need to be addressed on that side are things his department needs to be aware of for preparing the park assessment.
He said they have a draft contract, which needs to be amended to address some recent issues. He anticipates having a contract out in two to three months.
Bo Kahui, executive director of Lai Opua 2020, said he hopes the environmental assessment will move forward in that time.
“While it has been eight years in the making, I think it’s really time that we sort of, kind of kick up some dirt down there and make it happen,” he said.
One anticipated change though is that the park is likely to proceed without the planned driving range, Komata said.
He said that’s the result of conversations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that call for some land being set aside for endangered species.
“In the plan that you guys have, the driving range area has been set aside for protected species; so that’s gone,” Komata said. “And I think some of the tennis complex and the community gardens area — I think it’s a total of 34 or 38 acres of the 190-plus-acre park that was originally master planned that has been set aside for the protection of those protected species,” he said.
When questioned about whether the park could be relocated, Komata said he doesn’t think the range can be accommodated in a revised master plan because of the required preserves.
But, he said, it’s an issue could take back to the mayor and department director.
As for the tennis courts, Komata said they are still pursuing the resurfacing of courts at Old Airport Park.
The park’s development is closely tied to anticipated upgrades at the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant. Those upgrades will allow the plant to produce R-1 water, high-quality recycled water that can be used to irrigate landscapes, including that at the regional park.
In addition to irrigating park lands, other identified users will include Old Kona Airport, the Kohanaiki development and a buffer area around the treatment plant.
The county’s Department of Environmental Management is currently accepting comments on what should be considered within the environmental impact statement regarding the proposed upgrades at the plant.
During a scoping meeting on Thursday, Kahui asked department representatives to keep in mind that the priority for recycled water should be public parks.
“The executive order explicitly states that that effluent has a priority at the regional park,” Kahui said at that time.
Meanwhile, progress continues with several state and county projects in the area.
Natasha Soriano of the Hawaii Department of Transportation said phase 2 of the Queen Kaahumanu Highway widening project should be substantially completed by August 2018.
Soriano said the majority of mass grading has been completed and crews are now in the process of fine grading and preparing to pave the stretch of road from Hulikoa Street to the airport.
That work also includes the installation of utility lines and water lines and completing retaining walls.
Paving at Hulikoa Street has been completed, she added, and on Monday crews will be restriping. The next day, temporary traffic signals will go on.
In the next six months to a year, she added, they’ll begin paving from Hulikoa Street.
Phase 2 of the widening project was originally supposed to finish in September 2017, but the anticipated end date was pushed back after breaches at two historic trails.
