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Residents give developer priorities for Keahuolu Village

Source: Kona Land Use Map

Source: Kona Land Use Map

Karin Stanton/Hawaii247.com Contributing Editor

More than 70 West Hawaii residents gave Forest City Hawaii representatives a little direction Tuesday evening at a planning workshop for the Keahuolu Village development.

Keahuolu Village is a 272-acre mixed-use community – to include a majority of affordable housing units – between Palani Road and Kealakehe Parkway. The project is in the early planning stages.

During the nearly four-hour workshop, residents voted on major themes they deem priorities for development along the Kona Coast corridor.

The top four themes, by a wide margin:

1. Connectivity and navigation

2. People taking care of people

3. Education / Learning place

4. Open spaces / Natural environment

Broader priorities mentioned include: adequate fire and police service; a covered or indoor gathering place for community events and family functions; intergenerational facilities (pairing elderly care and child care/education); open spaces within walking distance of every child; teaching facilities, including school, garden and aquaculture opportunities; and a respect for Hawaii’s culture, history and land.

“This project is definitely good for Kona,” said Wally Lau, West Hawaii deputy mayor. “Not only does it fit into the community development plan and how everything connects, but the concept, thinking and attitude can be replicated across the island.”

Francis Oda, chairman and CEO of Group 70 in Honolulu, said Forest City Hawaii is committed to creating a community in which residents will want to live, work and play.

“We don’t want to develop something that 15, 20 years down the line, we ask ourselves, ‘what have we done here?'” he said. “A lot of things are aligned for this project both on the state and county levels. The CDP is a terrific outline and blueprint. This is like the first day for this project, so anything is possible.”

Ota said the community should include the best practices of the past and the most advanced technology of the future.

“The goal is to make it as sustainable as possible. Probably cutting-edge,” Ota said. “We’ve lost those third places, the places where we gather like the grocery, the barber shop, church, nowadays that’s even Costco. We need to get those places back.”

Jon Wallenstrom, Forest City Hawaii chief operating officer, said he was pleased to hear the positive feedback at Tuesday evening’s meeting.

“I think it was remarkable. I wouldn’t have necessarily put those four elements at the top. There’s a lot there to work with, lots of great things to design around,” he said. “Some things Forest City has done in other places; some things are totally new and unique to Kona.”

Marni Herkes, who served on the CDP steering committee, said she supports the Keahuolu Village vision.

“This project embodies everything we talked about perfectly. This has a real possibility of really following the CDP,” she said. “Forest City has some good people working on this. They understand what Kona what’s to be.”

Although Forest City does not have a timeline, the first of more than 2,000 residential units may be available in 2012. More than 50 percent of the housing units will be prices between 80 percent and 140 percent of the median income.

The project also includes 120,000 square feet of commercial/retail space, common areas, park space, and a site for an elementary school.

A second meeting to gather public input will be scheduled in a few months.

Keahuolu Village is the first Big Island project for Forest City Hawaii, which previously built 3,000 homes on Oahu for military personnel.

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