Kaneohe Neighborhood Board Takes A Look At The Future Of Highways, Open Space

Our community’s future was on the minds of the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board at its April 21 meeting.

Board Supports Cyclists, Pedestrians In Highway Planning: The Board approved a resolution supporting provisions for cyclists and pedestrians when the City and County of Honolulu repaves the Kamehameha Highway through Kaneohe. The resolution came after the Board heard comments from Daniel Alexander of the Hawaii Bicycling League.

The project will repave the highway from Windward City Shopping Center to the Kahekili Highway. The resolution urges the Mayor to make sure Complete Streets is included in planning for the project.

Complete Streets seeks to provide roadways that are “safe and convenient for all people whether traveling by foot, bicycle, transit, or automobile, and regardless of age or ability.”  The strategy is required by state law and City ordinance.

Board To Study Sustainability Plan Again. Chairman Mo Radke said a Board committee will consider a proposed change to the area’s sustainability plan that would allow expansion of the cemetery atHawaiian Memorial Park.

The proposal would reclassify 56.5 acres that the park owns as preservation land, for its role in preserving open space. That would put the park’s land on an equal footing with golf courses and allow the park to begin using it for cemetery plots. The park already manages slightly more than 100 acres nearby as a cemetery, with more than 30,000 people interred.

The city Department of Planning and Permitting supports the change. However, the proposal has faced longstanding opposition from some community members. At the April 21 meeting, Grant Yoshimori of the group savekaneohe.org asked the Board to reiterate its opposition. Mr. Yoshimori said the project posed a risk for runoff that could damage nearby homes and for disruption to ancient Hawaiian sacred sites.

The Neighborhood Board formally opposed the change in 2009. The Board reconsidered the issue in March 2015 but took no action.

More information about the sustainability plan and the proposed park expansion is available on the Planning and Permitting website athttp://honoluludpp.org/Planning/DevelopmentSustainableCommunitiesPlans/KoolaupokoPlan.aspx.

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