North Kohala Community Development Plan Advisory Group
Meeting of 2/4/2025. Kohala Judiciary Building.
Minutes by Annalene Williams
Call to order at 4:31pm
Approx 20 in attendance from the community. 6 In attendance from AG committee: David Fuertes, Boyd Bond, Jack Hoyt, Annalene Williams, John Winter, Sadie Young
January Meeting minutes approved – yes
CIP PRIORITIES. The AG presented the 2025 North Kohala CIP priority list with the top 5 ranked priorities and the cover letter sent to the Director of Planning on January 9 th .
SubGroup meeting reports :
Affordable Housing:
New Project Updates – The North Kohala Community Development Plan encourages protecting ag. land while promoting dense housing near town centers. New residential projects close to town centers. Land available for that is zoned Agriculture. A list of Agricultural lots would like to change the zoning. Ag lots too large for the county to approve on its own has to go to the state
Hawi Nani 201(H) project . We await the new administration as the Planning Department requires instruction from the Mayor for water meters for the project. It still requires a State Land Use classification change, as well as county rezoning (County Code Chapter 25), then subdivision approval (County Code Chapter 23). Opportunity for public input at each step.
2nd plan: 40 affordable lots, trying to get it approved, dependent on the Department of Water Supply, who will provide water meters. The community will have multiple opportunities to speak up. Stale law allows the developers to make amendments if 50% of the lot is allocated to affordable housing. The state definition of affordability is inappropriate for North Kohala based on median incomes.
Phase III of Hawi HICDC Self-Help also needs zoning changes as it is larger than 15 acres. The project proposed 18 lots on 30 acres and is in the final phases but is currently on hold.
( Phase III is Makai of existing Phase II) The reason why it is on hold is because they would like the Self-Help project in Waimea and North Kohala to go to market at the same time so that people from Waimea don’t deplete the Self-Help Housing Stock in North Kohala. Self Help in Waimea already went through the rezoning process but got sidetracked when a large parcel of land, 200 acres, got donated to them. Waimea is thus behind with their project at the moment, and trying to catch up with North Kohala, Waimea got an extension of sub-division approval.
Conversion of Ag land: 85% of North Kohala is zoned Ag 20, and converting Ag land to affordable housing is in the general plan. Some areas close to developed areas have always been designated for future needs, and as urban expansion happens, some ag land will be converted
Existing Housing Stock – Lots of interest in the newly revived Kohala Community Land Trust, which seeks donations of existing homes, money, property, commercial and retail buildings that include affordable rentals, or buildings that are no longer in their designated use to bolster our North Kohala rental market.
We are keeping an inventory of homes that are vacant and/or in need of repair to put more rental housing on the market. Please provide home addresses and any relevant information about the owner ’ s contact information and the condition of the home at our next meeting. More Section 8
landlords are needed as a contribution to our community; properties just need to be fully permitted
and livable.
The condition of the home affects their ability to get financing for repairs,
Agricultural Lots and Housing – The large landowner meeting was joined by representatives from the Agriculture group and it was understood that farmer business plans would be necessary for leasing Ag. lots. GoFarm, The Kohala Center, and Hawai ’ i Farm Credit all provide support for
experienced or aspiring farmers.
Need for Ag housing and existing people in North Kohala, joining forces with Agriculture group, changing laws which will allow big Ag producers to have worker housing. Not as easy as it sounds, still need wastewater systems, catchment, water meters, zoning changes. We might succeed together.
Next meeting February 12 th , 9 am at Pomaika ’ i Cafe .
Agriculture:
January 30 th meeting canceled due to storm.
An issue that the Agriculture Working Group has been working on concerns the availability of agricultural land to farmers. Three bills are now in progress to provide funding for the State's Agribusiness Development Corporation (ADC) to purchase agricultural land (and an industrial parcel for agricultural processing, value-added facilities, or indoor farming operations) in North Kohala.
These parcels would provide additional opportunities for Kohala's agricultural community to license affordable and potentially productive farmland. There will be hearings on these bills in the near future.
Background: some things transpired. Nathan, on board of ADC, will give a synopsis. History: after 2022 ditch collapse, started agriculture sub-committe, lost Kohala nursery, and other small farms unable to produce. Started with Ag visioning event March 23, 207 people at gym came up with a vision what Ag should look like in North Kohala, In Aug 2024, they held Ag Vision ii, to gather more shareback from the community
7 Agtriculutre working groups were identified: production, farmer wellness, housing, water, energy, food access land.
Meet monthly, three groups at a time. Ag water group decided to have a water summit to get facts about water in Kohala. 25 experts, DLNR Dept Ag, CWRM COH & landowners. People could share
and learn about water. ADC chairman was at the event and talked about buying land for Agriculture. Nathan is on the board of ADC. This is the first time someone from Kohala has served on the Board of the ADC.
Nathan:
Past June joined ADC (Agriculture Development Corporation) as a member of Hawaii County no ADC land in Hawaii (except a small parcel in Hilo)
ADC wanted someone from Hawaii County on their board to establish a presence
How to support. ADC was founded in 1994 to take leadership in Ag, statutory powers, move fast, dynamic leader. Not much happened in Hawaii, however Kuai and Ohau very active
Joined board, asked people what is needed, what does ADC do on other islands, what can we do here? Identified one parcel of land that could be purchased from the state, Pololu side of Kynnersly, 96 acres with a big chunk of the gulch. ADC put it in the budget, but it didn ’ t get in. Requested Sen
Richards to introduce a bill to purchase land. Surety suggested a Halaula parcel might be better
suited. 46 acres close to ATV outfitters and an area close to KMS school
ADC Kohala Land Purchase Bills
SB761 – Halaula Agricultural Parcel
https:// www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=522
SB522 – North Kohala-Kynnersely Agricultural Land
https:// www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=761
SB1247 – Halaula Industrial Parcel
https:// www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=1247&year=2025
Note: The industrial parcel would most likely be used for agricultural processing and value added facilities or indoor farming operations.
Nathan works with Island Harvest, so has a conflict of interest. Can’t take action on some issues.
3 bills introduced have not received a hearing and have been deferred to the Economic Development and Tourism committee in the Senate who are sympathetic towards agriculture. Larger vision to support agriculture in North Kohala. NKCDP – keep agricultural heritage intact and promote agriculture. Great opportunity with ADC to purchase land that can be licensed out to farmers, devil in the details. None of the parcels are perfect but a good start to make Ag land affordable. A bill puts Kohala Ditch under management of ADC but the bill is not being pushed, Richards introduced that can be part of discussion. ADC manages the Waiole water system, Waihawa dam and manages irrigation on Kauai. They do have funds to manage those.
Name of the bill Kohala Ditch: 1113
(ADC RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTENANCE OF KOHALA DITCH )
Ditch ownership presently under cooperative, not sure if it would transfer from them to ADC
ADC requested funding that got into the governor ’ s budget to buy another parcel close to the golf park, which was in the works before Nathan joined the board. Unsure what the plans are. Let the
community know it is in the ADC budget. Thoughts on that would be great; conflict of interest NKCRC project is the North Kohala Golf Park.
Question : $10m million for ditch wasn’t used. Senator De la Cruz said funds went to Lahaina or got stored somewhere for future use. Mr. Fuertez said it is still available (somewhere).
Question: Ag land ADC, where is the water going to come from? ADC occasionally buys land without water. Farmers will apply for licenses to add infrastructure themselves. ADC provides water and irrigation structure charges a fee
There is a well on the Halaula parcel decommissioned could be reactivated Kynnersly parcel close to ditch
Always the option to drill wells, not always economical
Question : What happened to the dairy well? Starting construction on the well, anybody in the area can tap water from the well, will need some infrastructure
Question: The process to tap into Well: Dept of Agriculture put up Upolu well – talk to David Tarnas Water is an ongoing discussion. Are we going to fix the ditch? Well, it could be 1 million = 10 wells. Existing wells could be reactivated, possibility
Comprehensive water studies available, answers are not straightfoward.
Ag subcomittee to talk story and make decisions together. Venue where people can talk story, meets on last Thursday of the month at the Hub Barn
Question : if the Farmer bills go through, would I be able to lease part of the whole property?
ADC will have the tract of land, submit an application, list tax records, business plan, cash flow, and letters of support. I want this many acres on this property; if the application scores high, then you will be approached by ADC to lease the land. Typical license = 35 years for ADC properties, an effort to keep land productive. You have to farm on the land. At the moment not allowing housing on ADC Ag land. All of this is not going to happen overnight will take a lot of planning.
Sen Don de la Cruz proposed an original kitchen, the same idea as the food hub, which would supply food for DOE lunches and would stimulate agriculture. Maybe do it on Big Island. It is not going to be perfect. Supply all the schools. Agriculture is not a buzzword anymore. Kohala can be a model
When land is gone (sold), it is gone. Surety has a mandate to sell parcels. Only one industrial zone in North Kohala if we are to have any industry-centric processing, purchasing the industrial zone is logical. State acquires through Ag entity, way to insure land stays in agriculture use. De la Cruz made a big difference in his district
How to track bills: seminar to submit testimony for bill, community training. Workshop on how to submit testimony for a bill, how to mobilize our community. Each group should be tracking bills would benefit everyone. John wrote a blurb.
We have to be ready before the bill is ready to submit testimony
Example bill supporting pumped hydropower. (It’s where water flows downhill between two reservoirs at night when solar power can't produce then pumped uphill during the day) on Kohala Mountain.
Heard about it yesterday and was able to submit testimony 5 minutes before the deadline Have to stay vigilant. When something is about to drop
Each group has its own list. Will get a testimony template when bills get scheduled for hearing, we need testimony or support.
Food hub to increase food resilience, need Ag land available makes sense will send out newsletter. Need local producers, 250 retail sources from around the island because can’t find supply in North Kohala, support infrastructure, market, happy to help
Will create a template
Last week there was a bill to buy land Ka’u, a small coffee farm parcel, to preserve it as an Ag parcel, 20 pages of testimony from the community was submitted
Numbers game. Personalize template
State capital has a room called the Public Access Room (PAR), which is supposed to help us participate in process can register with them, they have little seminars, they also travel and teach you how to track bills, very helpful resource. Invite them to give a workshop
Hearings are also online
Next meeting, February 27 th , 5-6:30 pm, Kohala Village Hub Barn.
Community Access:
Pololu Lookout.
No EA is needed.
Visitor numbers were up to 839 in December,
Bike groups are not allowed to ride to Pololu. Ordinance of County Bill 217. Stakeholder will meet with Townscape soon to continue the progress.
Individuals and small groups can still ride bikes to Pololu. Also no bike groups on Kohala Mountain Road
Upolu Airport East Councilman James Hustice will introduce a resolution for the county to go into negotiations with the landowner for a PONC purchase.. 88 acres priority purchase for open space submitted a resolution, want people to support resolution will send out info on hearing
Honoipu. Ongoing conversations with the Department of Interior as to why the federal government should turn over the Old Coast Guard road to the County.
Transfer from fed to county last admin fumbled, mgroup made a pleas to mayor in jan 17 got a call said lets do it. Will hear anouncement on that soon. Missed the dealine, sent the fed guy emergency declaration bought a few days
Pali Akamoa . Jackson Bauer of DLNR trails division needs to talk to the homeowners association about relocating the trail to a safe spot.
Mahukona . HILT ’ s progress since 1-year acquisition on December 11th of Mahukona. Student activities.
Camping program.
Replanted native plants.
Volunteer program.
Water well restored.
Have cleaned Maumalei Heiau.
Working with Parker Ranch on fire mitigation.
HILT is working on a long-term management plan & hopes to present by March 31 st . Had community meetings for amenities for the park and will have 2 more.
Kohala Coastal Trails Connectivity Group . Will have the next meeting in February. 24th
Meets quarterly. Community Organized group that includes Stakeholders from various government agencies about the land that has been acquired along Akoni Pule highway. Idea is to look at 60 miles of coast as one resource. Next meeting 24th of February
Kaiholena . NPS, HILT, & Ala Kahakai trail association will do a site visit focusing on conservation.
Kohala Shoreline .
Greg Mooers is retired but is helping review the public access and historical preservation plans. Going to be an archeologic survey because of the fire & bulldozed fire breaks.
Our group had requested a site visit.
Is the proposed trail encroaching on the protected areas of cultural & burial sites? Is one of the sites impacted by the trail mislabeled?
Is it an agricultural terrace or a burial?
68 acres makai of Kohala Ranch, tentative approval for a 9 lot subdivision, Community pushed to make sure Public access adequate no development between road and ocean, representative of the owner came to the meeting. Growth Management went to the meeting to talk about Historic burial sites, how the trails impact that and how building lots impact the sites. Owner came back to say they answered all the questions. Access group asked for an onsite walk-through of the proposed trail, will be coming up
Next meeting tomorrow at senior center
Kohala Kai . NPS and the landowner are still in negotiations for the conservation easement. NPS may want community stewardship & enforcement for their program.
Rails-to-Trails . The latest draft is done in digital form and available. Hard copies will be available in February. Need to research if the trails or rails are part of the Highway Act.
Oceanfront Database . Is up to date.
Next meeting, February 5 th , 4:30pm Senior Center.
Cultural and Historical:
Kohala Oral History Project Collaboration: Kohala Oral History Project received two NEH grants for two projects. One called Taste of Kohala celebrating food and culture, gathering recipes. The other is a grant focused on climate change in Kohala. Partnering on that with UH Hilo, Kohala Center, and wants to partner with KCHAG to identify kūpuna to talk to. Also looking for themes outside of grant scope (ghost stories etc.) Wants to do interviews during the Kohala Reunion, but the acoustics in Hisaoka Gym are not good.
Received another grant recording stories about Climate change, conversations from Kupuna need suggestions from the community want to tell our story, what story do you want to tell that represents Kohala. Will conduct a bunch of interviews at the same time, in one setting several different productions. Suggested topics: Kohala ditch, ranching, efforts to save coastline, For ghost stories would like to start filming in February for Halloween
Water Updates : CWRM gave overview of what they do. Still trying to engage the community to gather info on existing & historic lo ’ i. Grants being sought for fish passage, removing debris jams etc.
Emphasis on creating water hui again. Interest expressed in getting a group of volunteers coordinated to help with or without grant money. Log jams and felled trees in Niulii/Waikani streams.
CWRM hosted a community meeting in Kohala did a presentation, productive and informative, chance to give s presentation. Bounced of ditch vs wells, establishing what the water table is, no survey wells in North Kohala to measure water table, can maybe repurpose old well to establish how deep Kohala water table is
Job is measuring and then making the rules. DWS did a presentation in Waimea, which was really informative and spoke plainly about water problems in Waimea, very informative and lends to the discussion started by the Kohala Agriculture committee.
Fiscal Sponsorship : Grant list sent over by NKCRC. Will do Zoom meeting on 2/25 to determine which grants to consider. Interest again over grants for research on O ’ ahu.
A lot on their plate
Kohala Reunion : Doing kanikapila on Front Porch being built by Kanani with mo ’ olelo; no amps. Need list of artists to ask and prepare schedule. Talk Story recording at Heritage Center since recording better. Things need to be solidified by the May meeting.
More interactive Kupuna answer questions, building a set porch with rocking chairs, and put together a list of people who would like to share stories. Will make more announcements as they go forward
Stream Name Change : For the switch of the Niuli ’ i/Waikani streams which needs to be corrected on the map. Still need to meet with person who has maps and record oral history to submit to State Board of Geographic Names.
CWRM guys found streams on map have wrong names, Auntie Sarah came out with a chant to verify the correct name of the stream
CWRM is looking for historical references to Lo ’ i and wants to document water sources, It will be
important to draw a line; no names, and they need semi-accurate numbers. Group would like to collaborate and still working on historic site document
It is Hawaiian language month and there are a lot of events happening across the Island to celebrate Hawaiian culture
Culture piece missing from Mahukona plans
Next meeting: Date TBD, 10am, Walker Hall, Kapa ’ au.
Growth Management.:
Met with Community Access. See above.
Next meeting is February 12 th , 5pm, Senior Center.
Health and Wellness:
The Alzheimers Association gave a presentation and would like to give a training for our community. Also has a monthly care giver support through Tutu House.
Nicolas Bamios. Will schedule a community night to give more info to the community
Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). Kohala Resilience Hub has a meeting Tuesday with their, Nutrition Educator to see what they can offer to Kohala.
They would like to come to Kohala to teach classes (a session of 9 classes) and teach healthy cooking. Get a free cookbook and measuring cups
Ohana Fun Day – Resilience, Health & Wellness fair, March 8 from 10-1pm. At Hisaoka Gym. Booths by BISAC, CERT, Hamakua Kohala Health Center, Food Basket, Pro-body Therapy, Ohana Health Plan, Kohala Police Dept. doing Keiki ID, Fentanyl Task Force, HELCO, Angela Mulligan Marriage & Family Therapy, and more. Over 30 booths.
Kohala Project Grad will have a sign waving for Ohana Fun Day on March 8 from 9:00-9:45 at the high school and will head to park 9:45-10:00 to continue sign waving. Drug prevention and drive sober signs.
Next Meeting February 21 st , 4:00pm at Noth Kohala Community Resource Center.
Parks, Roads Erosion Control and View-planes (PREV):
The traffic problem at the high school was discussed with Principal Stafford and several ideas to reduce congestion were discussed. Another meeting will be held on Feb. 6 th at the high school to investigate further. Will continue to brainstorm to find a solution. Idea for a right turn lane mauka
Maybe separate KES from KHS dropoff
Parks 2nd planning public meeting Mahukona was held 35 people attended and came up with some good ideas, Kupuna gave a lot of information, 3rd meeting will be in the 2nd week of March.
Recommendations include hiring a consultant to organize ideas,
Next meeting is February 19 th , 5 pm. Senior Center.
Utilities:
Beers Road Water Line Replacement – Toni Withington reported that a consultant will be hired by DWS to scope out the replacement line. The aged line currently in place has suffered 20 leaks in 9 years, partly due to high pressure needed on a stub line. There is also a nearby group of residents on Kamolei Place who are experiencing low water pressure that could be incorporated into the new line to help both sets of residents. This could be accomplished by connecting Beers Road to the Malia Ridge line. Beers Road gets its water from the reservoir on Iki Road. Hopefully we will get an update in about a month.
Been on CIP for years, have CDP support to expedite chief engineer for DWS started the process and expediting the process.
Waste Management – John Winter will contact Sustainable Kohala regarding the situation at the local transfer station where green waste and household waste are combined for disposal. Green waste and household waste should be handled separately at the local transfer site. This is a good project for the Utilities group to pursue.
Fire Preparedness – A brief discussion was held on Fire Preparedness. John indicated that Hawaiʻi Wildfire Management Organization and Fire Wise are tackling this issue. North Kohala remains at risk despite more plentiful rainfall in general.
Complacency in North Kohala, but we get droughts and the grass can catch fire, a program to train people pays them $100 to inspect your property,
Undersea Cable and Broadband projects – Toni reported that surveying is taking place for an undersea fiber optic broadband cable to come ashore at Upolo. The existing cables to Kawaihae are reaching their end of use. There are two projects – one by HawaiianTelcom and one by the University of Hawaii, along with a private group. Ultimately, all the islands in the State will be connected, as well as existing underserved communities.
Old Coast Guard Road -Toni reported that the new Mayor is on-board to get the transfer of the road from the federal government to the County comp leted after many years of delays.
Next meeting is February 19 th , 3:30 pm. Senior Center.
New Business
Announcements:
Community workday to clean up Mahukona , Feb 20 starts at 8am
Annual Hazardous Household Waste Collection: March 1st annual hazardous household waste collection in Waimea, stringent restrictions,
For folks that live along streams, CWRM is writing a grant to clean the streams
next County General Plan meeting Thursday in Hilo can’t go on Zoom, have to give testimony in person
Adjourned at 5:58 pm