Committee clears Waimea Valley resiliency project SMA permit after applicant updates, environmental mitigations

The Honolulu City Council Committee on Zoning on Feb. 13 amended Resolution 25-039 to Committee Draft 1 and reported it out for adoption, granting a special management area (SMA) major permit to Hiipaka LLC for phased improvements at Waimea Valley.

The resolution authorizes a package of renovation and new-construction work in Waimea Valley, including renovation and expansion of the visitor center (restrooms and gift shop), demolition and rebuilding of a community resource center, expansion of the Pikake Pavilion, construction of a traditional Hawaiian hale, rockfall mitigation measures including a barrier behind the community resource center, upgrades or replacement of the onsite sewage treatment plant, a new off-site fire hydrant on the Mackay side of Kamehameha Highway, and erosion-control measures along stream banks. The project footprint covers portions of two zoning lots in a P-1 restricted preservation district (TMKs referenced in the record), and the committee’s staff summary notes the lots are not shoreline lots.

Applicant representatives presented the project as an effort to enhance economic resilience and improve infrastructure and safety while preserving the valley’s cultural and ecological value. Eric Pakowitz, the applicant’s agent, said Hiipaka is a “501(c)(3) nonprofit” that stewards native-plant conservation and cultural sites and that “the project is not designed to increase the use or the size of the operation within the valley.” Funding sources identified at the presentation included a $3,750,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and self-funding from Hiipaka.

The CD1 version of the resolution removes a previously proposed landowner acknowledgment that the lots are susceptible to coastal hazards because staff concluded the project site is not significantly affected by projected city-level sea-level rise. The committee record also notes United States Fish and Wildlife Service database entries indicate endangered, threatened or protected species may be present onsite; based on the Fish and Wildlife Service database and the project’s final environmental assessment, the CD1 includes additional mitigating conditions recommended by the State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD). The applicant, SHPD and the U.S. Economic Development Administration are preparing a memorandum of agreement to address impacts to archaeological, historical and cultural resources. An archaeological literature review and field inspection conducted in May 2023 found low likelihood of subsurface finds in the fire-hydrant and rockfall mitigation areas, moderate likelihood near the visitor center, Pavilion and community resource center, and higher likelihood at the proposed Hawaiian hale site.

The committee received no in-person or remote public testimony on the item during the meeting. DPP indicated support for the CD1. The committee amended the resolution to CD1, and with no objections the chair recommended and ordered that Resolution 25-039 CD1 be reported out for adoption.

Next steps include execution of required mitigation measures and the forthcoming memorandum of agreement with SHPD and the EDA before permit implementation.