MEDIA RELEASE

BJ Leithead Todd

Want to follow a Kona planning team in action from wherever you are on the Island or around the world? Want to see how the award-winning Kona Community Development Plan (CDP) is going to be applied to a real place but can’t attend the planning sessions in person? Want to share your own ideas without leaving home?

The County of Hawai`i, working with the PlaceMakers consulting team, is putting the planning process for Kona’s Honokohau Village up on the Web, complete with background info on the whys and hows of the effort and a day-by-day report of the plan’s progress during the upcoming design workshop, Oct. 21-27, 2009

“We know residents, business people, and others are very interested in how the goals they set in the Kona CDP will play out in Honokohau Village,” says Planning Director BJ Leithead Todd. “And we also know that people can’t be at every meeting and presentation during the public workshop. So we’re going to keep them in touch, no matter where they are, through regular online coverage. Everyone can catch up on what they missed and go deeper into the ideas behind the process by following it at www.honokohauvillage.com.”

The project, on a 40-acre site that includes the new West Hawai`i Civic Center, will be designed through a public “charrette” – a collaborative design workshop – held from October 21 through October 27, 2009 at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Hotel. During the seven days, the project team, in collaboration with the community, will customize the Kona CDP’s Village Design Guidelines and create a master plan for Honokohau Village.

The Village will be designed as a Transit Oriented Development (TOD), a category of compact, mixed-use development encouraged under the new Kona CDP. A TOD maximizes the advantages of mobility choices so that people representing a wide range of ages, abilities, and incomes can share the advantages of living, working, and playing in the same community.

The website is already up and running with interviews, background explainers, the charrette schedule, and links to key documents. During the charrette, planners will post photos, drawings, and reports on a daily basis so those who want to follow the process won’t miss anything. Once the charrette is over, all the information and reports remain up on the website for continued reference throughout the next phases of the project.

For more information, go to the website: www.honokohauvillage.com. Or contact: Allen A. Salavea, County of Hawai`i Planning Department. Phone: (808) 327-3510; email: asalavea@co.hawaii.hi.us