BREAKING NEWS!

Posted 7/8/2025

Wailua Under Siege

Aloha

1. FOM Petition to Revoke Kauai County Development permits for new 350 room resort on Appeal.

We are pressing ahead with our Appeal of the Kauai Planning Commission’s Decision which denied FOM’s Petition to Revoke the Permits that currently allow the construction of a 350 room luxury resort at the former Coco Palms site. FOM’s Petition to Revoke the Permits for failing to meet the conditions required by the County, some of which have been unmet for almost a decade, was supported by 9 Declarations from local Hawaiians and residents directly affected by the proposed construction.

2. Hokua Place announces intent/public notice of EIS to support construction of 900 new residences behind Kapaa Middle School (Click for Planned Concept)

Important Public Meeting: 
Kapaa Middle School
July 15, 2025 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
4867 Olohena Road
Kapaa, HI  96746
(900 housing units proposed for the hillside behind the middle school)

Now, in addition to the proposed resort construction at the former Coco Palms site and all the traffic it will add to the already crowded Wailua Kapaa traffic corridor, just east of the former hotel site and mauka of the Kapaa bypass road, Greg Allen and other investors are proposing to build 900 housing units behind the Kapaa Middle School. They are seeking fast track permits because their claim is that 51% of the units will be affordable. When one studies their plan, flex homes 1, flex homes 2 and flex homes 3, it is readily apparent that the units are small and affordable because the purchaser who buys the unit will pay extra for more than one bedroom, extra for a car port or garage, with other extra options available that take the affordable home out of the affordable price point… but then Mr Allen and his investors will say we offered an affordable unit and they felt the need to expand on it. The add ons are a bait and switch way to claim affordability and the reality is that the 51% affordable units would not provide even a small family quality of life without add-ons.

Please attend the meeting and let the developers know how you feel about 900 homes and the cement/hardscape coverage of the hillside that has been serving as the drainage sponge for the run off for Kapaa Middle School. Once the ground is covered with this development, the run off will be significantly increased, threatening an old bridge and bypass road traffic. Even if there is only one car per unit, there will be an additional 900 cars added to an already packed travel corridor. The problems with the Wailua Waste Water Treatment Plant are already noticeable by anyone driving between the Coconut Grove and Lydgate park. The foul odor in the air is definitely fecalent. There have been numerous failures of the pump station and the waste water treatment plant is currently asking the Department of Health for a permit that allows more waste water to be released to the ocean closer to shore than required by the previous permit. Plain and simple, Wailua is being taxed and we need your help to let the developers know how the public feels.

3. Wailua Waste Water Treatment Plant seeks new permit to pollute ocean at Wailua Bay.

On June 25, 2025, the Department of Health released notice that the Wailua Waste Water Treatment Plant was seeking a new National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit (NPDES). Comments are due no later than July 26, 2025: Persons wishing to comment upon or object to the proposed NPDES permit or to request a public hearing, should submit their comments or requests in writing no later than 30 calendar days after the date of this notice, either through E-mail at cleanwaterbranch@doh.hawaii.gov or by mail at P.O. BOX 3378, Honolulu, HI 96801‑3378.
Please, at a minimum, request a public hearing if you live in the area. Department of Health needs to know that the odor alone is evidence that the waste is not being properly processed and there are many instances where the Department of Health has reported effluent violations (untreated human waste) being released to the ocean: Effluent Violations

In addition to the direct spills to the ocean, there have been numerous pump station failures that have resulted in thousands of gallons of untreated human sewage released onto the former Coco Palms site, all documented by County Public Notices claiming that the area was “pumped down and disinfected” after each spill. Despite our requests to the County, as to what was meant by “pumped down” or how the spill on land was “disinfected”, the County has not responded,

You can access the details of the new permit through the following link: NPDES Permit Application Details

In closing, at a minimum we all need to request a public hearing to emphasize that any discharge to the ocean and the terrible odor along that traffic corridor are not only a public health hazard but a serious degradation to our islands environment and our quality of life on Kauai.

Mahalo nui,

Bridget Hammerquist, President
Friends of Maha`ulepu, a 501(c)(3)
Kia`i Wai o Wai`ale`ale, Co-founder
PO Box 1654
Koloa, HI 96756
Donate
friendsofmahaulepu.org
friendsofmahaulepu@hawaiiantel.net
(808) 742-1037 home
(808) 346-1973 cell

Posted 5/18/2025

An Exciting Argument!

Aloha Friends,

In our last newsy email, one of the items covered was sharing an upcoming Oral Argument before the Hawaii State Supreme Court. Several of our members were parties to a Petition challenging Governor Green’s Emergency Housing Proclamation (EP). 

When this challenge began, the rampant use of EPs had not yet begun because it was prior to our current presidential administration. The following mp3 link will allow you to listen to the one hour Argument before the Supreme Court Justices. It was exciting!  At the beginning of the Argument, the questions asked of our legal counsel, Lance Collins, Esq, made it seem that the Justices didn’t feel the Emergency Proclamation should be challenged.

For those of us who attended, it wasn’t long before we realized that was not the case. When you listen to the mp3 link below, you will be treated to a very eloquent and brilliant argument by Mr Collins as he responded to a barrage of questions from the justices. They were not pleased that the Governor chose to use a process designed for true emergencies to address what his own Proclamation said had been an housing shortage in Hawaii since 1935. The biggest problem with the EP is that is suspends so many State and County laws, supposedly to fast track affordable housing development. At least, that’s the hype.