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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Click on one of the questions below to view the answer IMPACT ON RESIDENTS Another Waikiki? - Will Turtle Bay turn the North Shore into another Waikiki? Healthcare -How will the Resort address health care issues given the situation with the Kahuku Hospital? Beach Access -How will the development affect beach access for local residents, resort guests and others? Traffic -How does the Resort plan to deal with potential gridlock issues? Safety - Given the increase of vehicles on the road, what thoughts has the Resort put into a plan of action should another tsunami or hurricane hit the North Shore? Employment - How many jobs will need to be filled? - Who will fill them? - What type of job opportunities will be available? Housing -Are there plans to build affordable housing to accommodate the influx of jobs that will become available? ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT - Why is Kuilima against an updated Environmental Impact Study? - What plans are in place to address the increase in sewage? - Is it true that chlorinated water from the pools is damaging the coral and wildlife in the area? COMMUNITY OPPOSITION - Do any local resident supporters of the development exist? - You have indicated that there have been small group meetings with local community members that have taken place. Can you clarify who has been invited to these meetings, and why you haven’t shared information with the broader community? - Where can the general public access information regarding the development plans? back to top of page Another Waikiki? Q: Will Turtle Bay turn the North Shore into another Waikiki? A: You raise an extremely important point. Many people have told me they don't want a Waikiki on the North Shore, and I agree with them. This project is entirely different from Waikiki. Even if the maximum number of units were built, the density would only be six percent of the density at Waikiki. In actual fact, the number of proposed units has not yet been determined and there are no plans on the drawing board for buildings at this point. But we do know that of our approximately 850-acre property, the plans allow buildings on only 254 acres, on which the current Turtle Bay Resort already resides. The remainder of the property is largely open spaces. So I would like to reassure the community that we will not and cannot have massive development on our property. But even more importantly, there are strict restrictions on location and building height limitations. No building on the resort area can be taller than 90 feet, which is the height of the existing Turtle Bay Resort (six stories). By contrast, many buildings in Waikiki are 300 feet high or more. Another very important distinction is that no building on the Turtle Bay Resort can be within 100 feet of the shoreline and, in fact, as I mentioned earlier, there will be a public shoreline walkway all along the property which stretches more than two miles. The only area that this won't be the case is in front of the existing hotel. Beach access for local residents will actually increase as a result of this proposed development. We know that shoreline access is very important to local residents and there will be five access walkways to the beach. In addition, nearly 70 acres of land will be preserved as parks or shoreline walkways right along the beaches. And it’s very important to remember that no construction can take place within 100 feet of the beaches. Near Kawela Bay, we are even more restricted in what can be built next to the shoreline: nothing can be built within 100ft but also, within the area between 100ft and 300 feet of the shorelines, the maximum amount of land area that can be covered is 10% and no building can be higher than 50ft within this area. In addition, there will be a total of 150 additional public parking spaces for the community. At Kawela Bay Park, there will be 21 parking stalls, and at Kahuku Point Park, there will be 30 stalls. There will be much more beach access than there is now. We will be building public comfort stations, which include restrooms and showers at each of the 2 beach parks and at the 5 additional access points along the shoreline. There will also be 20 public parking spaces at each of those 5 access points. The 2 major beach parks will be dedicated to the City but will be maintained by the resort. One of the first projects that we will be doing is the improvement to and dedication of the park at Kawela Bay and this will be followed by the shoreline walkway. In fact, under the entitlement agreements, these things must be completed before any new hotels or condos can be occupied. Benefits like these and affordable housing, childcare run with the land, which means that the developer is always be accountable for providing these benefits. We are looking at innovative ways to alleviate traffic such as a shuttle service to and from the airport, which will mean that each of the guests will no longer need to hire rental cars at the airport and many of the guest journeys will be consolidated. Another very important initiative is the shuttle service for guests and employees that we will run between Haleiwa on the West and Ka’aawa on the East. At the moment nearly 90% of our employees live in this area and we’d very much like that to continue. The idea is to give almost all employees and guests the option of taking journeys by shuttle rather than driving. Also, the hope is that more local residents will be able to work closer to home and avoid long commutes to town. The other thing we’d really like to make happen is a bike path network up here on the North Shore. This will take a fair amount of effort but we’re already working on the section from Kawela Bay to Kahuku High School, which would then link up with the path that’s proposed between Kahuku and Laie. We will certainly be including a bike path within the resort area itself. When we discussed these projects with our employees they were all very enthusiastic about these possibilities and we are certainly open to new ideas. One of the first traffic-related projects that we’ll be doing is the very important safety upgrade at the existing Kuilima Drive intersection with Kamehameha Highway. We have been working with DoT closely on this and we will be significantly improving the intersection and the way that it interfaces with Oio Bridge. This will improve the lines of sight and enhance traffic flow. back to top of page Q: What type of job opportunities will be available? A: There are many current employees who live in the area that are in management positions. Some of these employees started out in more junior positions, but have been promoted to their current roles. Others went to college and returned home and assumed their positions. With more jobs available, there will be more career paths with quality jobs open for residents in the area. There are a number of types of jobs and career opportunities that would be available, not just at the hotel. Building a resort may not be the perfect answer to everything, but we believe it can provide attractive alternatives for quality jobs. There is also the economic multiplier effect. For example, we would like to support small farms in Kahuku that would supply the resort and others in the community. We also envision environmental tourism to be a major part of the project, which will enable people to work in this area. Q: Why is Kuilima against an updated Environmental Impact Study? A: It simply is not true that we are relying outdated information on the impact to the environment. Kuilima Resort Company has monitored and updated numerous environmental studies over the years to ensure they are updated. We did not need a supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. Over the last several years, we have been encouraged by the City & County to move forward with the project, which we have done. We really felt that given the fact that we updated the key studies regularly, that we do not need a formal supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. The studies that we have updated include water quality, drainage, and traffic impact analysis. We are also in the process of updating others such as the marine mammals. The plan is to have an environmentally responsible resort that finds the balance between providing jobs and preserving the rural atmosphere of the area. One of the recent initiatives was to develop best practice for golf course management, including re-using treated waste water for irrigation. We are also preserving and enhancing the 100-acre Punahoolapa Wildlife Preserve on our property. This includes creating a six-acre private park that will be available to locals and visitors alike. We are working with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife on this project. back to top of page Q: What plans are in place to address the increase in sewage? A: Having the appropriate infrastructure is essential for the proposed expansion. A sewage treatment plant has actually already been built. This has sufficient capacity for the entire resort and we are also providing sewage treatment services to some of the other third-party residents on the property. This was a significant investment. In addition, there are two wells that are located on the Mauka lands that we are currently in the process of improving and dedicating to the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. Again, this will also provide more than adequate water for the whole resort as well as others in the area. Q: Is it true that chlorinated water from the pools is damaging the coral and wildlife in the area? A: Swimming pool water from Turtle Bay does not empty into the ocean. This is absolutely not true. In fact, we are very conscious of these types of matters. back to top of page Q: Do any local resident supporters of the development exist? A: We conducted a poll that researched a variety of different topics including overall support vs. opposition of the existing development plan. The poll demonstrated that 55% of the Oahu community supported the development. The poll also showed that specific to the North Shore community, the Kahuku community had the most support for the development and the Sunset/Pupukea community offered the least support for the development. Q: You have indicated that there have been small group meetings with local community members that have taken place. Can you clarify who has been invited to these meetings, and why you haven’t shared information with the broader community? A: Early in the year we did presentations to neighborhood boards on the North Shore. Since then, we have been having small group meetings with representatives from the Kahuku Community Association, the Kahuku Village Association, the North Shore Career Training Center as well as Hauula and Laie community leaders. In addition, we have met with some of those who are concerned about the project that have homes in Kawela Bay and the Sunset Beach area. We know that this will take some time to reach out to all of those who are involved, but we felt this was the most productive way of having a respectful dialog. We have also met with our employees, most of who live in the area. The proposed development was never intended to be a win/lose proposition. The Unilateral Agreement between the developer and community was designed and structured so that both sides could win. The community would have an economic driver to replace the sugar plantations among many other community benefits; the developer would be able to create a resort that would, in turn, provide the infrastructure to sustain and enhance the Kahuku community. After the holidays we will be scheduling many more meetings and we welcome your input and involvement. We have met with local media and participated in the Honolulu Advertiser’s “Hot Seat” blog in an effort to more effectively distribute tangible, factual, information about our plans for Turtle Bay.
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