SOURCE: JUAN WILSON juanwilson@mac.com
POSTED: 12 AUGUST 2005 - 4:00pm HST
Bad Planning continues in Waipouli
Shoreline along east coast of Kauai near Waipouli
by Juan Wilson 12 August 2005 Construction is well under wayon the multi story oceanfront Waipouli beach condominium project by Unlimited Construction. Soaring concrete columns and slabs three stories high are blotting out what once looked like a beachside park. The project completion has been planned for late in 2005 or early 2006. This is a project that never should have been approved by the Planning Commission or Planning Department but is upon now. The developer, Keith Singleton, was quoted as saying
"We have designed and priced the luxury units to satisfy a variety
of buyers. There's something here for everyone. Sales and marketing
should begin soon with prices ranging from $350,000 to $2.5 million".
The $100 million 196 unit luxury beachfront residential condominium project in Waipoli, across from the Safeway shopping center will have a profound and negative impact on Kauai. The section of the coastal highway that passes this ill conceived project is the a critical traffic bottleneck that affects all regional Kauai traffic. Recently I was made aware an admission by the Kauai County Planning Director Ian Costa that the owner and contractor had started on the construction on this project without the required Hawaii State Shoreline Certification. The Planning Department knew this and Costa is reported to have indicated that the Building Department (that provides county building permits) was not notified by Planning and no effort was made to bring the owner to task over the issue. Another glaring mistake made by Planning was recently revealed to me. The Waipoli project was gotten approval to divert the coastal bike and walking bath off the shore and around the project. If this is true it is a planning abomination and should lead to the removal of Ian Costa as Planning Director. If anything, the Waipoli Project should be bending over backward to provide amenities for the public rather than going so far as to exclude passage along the beach. It would seem that the Waipoli Condo developers have a lot of clout in the form of money and political influence. It is too late to save Kauai from the worst of the damage from current developments in Waipoli, but perhaps a public outcry about public amenities and access would help get something besides more traffic jams. KAUAI
COUNTY MAYOR 2004-2006
KAUAI COUNTY COUNCIL KAUAI
COUNTY COUNCIL PLANNING COMMITTEE KAUAI
COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION
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