Community Can Weigh In Dec. 19 On Ewa Plan
City Councilman Tom Berg
As your West Oahu City Councilman, I would like to extend an invitation to you and your neighbors to weigh in on 11 important Ewa Development Plan (EDP) amendments to Bill 65 that are the result of issues brought up in City Council committee testimony in October.
Your views on these amendments can be heard in an open public discussion 7 to 9 p.m. Dec. 19 at Kapolei Hale that is hosted by my council office.
The Ewa Development Plan town hall meeting may be the community’s last chance to voice its opinions on these amendments before EDP bill 65 is taken up by the new city council next year. It is my hope to advance input to the council before I leave, as my position on responsible development is much different than your newly elected council representative.
The following list details the EDP amendments that will be discussed at the meeting.
1. Move the Ewa urban growth boundary south to Mango Tree Boulevard, east to Fort Weaver Road and west to Kualakai Parkway, in order to help preserve vital agricultural farmland and keep the Ewa Plain’s highways from becoming vastly overcrowded.
2. Do not permit a federal bio-lab using imported deadly viruses and testing on live animals to be allowed in the community under the Ewa Development Plan. There has been strong public opposition expressed.
3. Request that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ DeBartolo Shopping Center project cooperate with the Ewa Development Plan. This location will have two hotels and is also expected to include a station for the rail projet. This would have widespread impacts on area traffic, taxes and potential unregulated construction.
4. There should be no desalination plant allowed in the Ewa Development Plan. New development in the Ewa Plain should cease when the natural fresh water resource reserves are exhausted.
5. The Ewa Village Master Plan needs to be completed, because of major land transactions taking place next to historic Verona Village. Former Ewa plantation lands have been proposed for a rail station.
6. The East West connector road should be built before any major Ho’opili/ DR Horton development is allowed that will cause massive traffic jams on area roads.
7. All historic civilian, military and important Hawaiian cultural features not currently recognized in the Ewa Development Plan should be defined in the plan before the bill is passed into law.
8. Ewa Plain’s historic heritage trails need listing in the State of Hawaii “Na Ala Hele” trails database to ensure that future generations will have pedestrian access rights to traditional areas of cultural activity.
9. The Hawaii Community Development Authority in Kalaeloa should be in full coordination with the Ewa Development Plan. Without such coordination, everything done in this area will be fractionalized and spot zoned and make the EDP basically a worthless planning document.
10. Recognize in the EDP that the Ewa Plain’s water system is an important hydrological, geological and cultural feature with possible hazards that may need mitigation.
11. The EDP should require that Kualakai Parkway terminate at Roosevelt Road and that Coral Sea Road become the main arterial thoroughfare for shoreline projects such as Haseko’s Ocean Pointe development.
We hope you can join this vitally important community discussion on the amendments to EDP.
Additional Bill 65 information also cam be found at councilmanberg.com.
City Councilman Tom Berg represents District 1 (Ewa to Makua). Readers may contact him at 768-5001 or email tberg@honolulu.gov.
