15 June, 2006
Kahuku land to be sold to developer
Tenants are told they will be able to buy their homes
13 June, 2006
These guys are not greedy
Article on Kahuku Village proposal
12 May, 2006
Hakalau Oceanfront Donation
Continental Pacific donates ocean park
Taken from Hawaii County Weekly News May 12, 2006
Hakalau Sugar Mill Site on Oceanfront Donated to County of Hawaii
Mayor Harry Kim expresses his deep appreciation, on behalf of Hawaii County, to Continental Pacific LLC for the generous donation of the oceanfront Hakalau Sugar Mill site to Hawaii County. Special thanks are due to Continental Pacific's principal officers, Jere A. Henderson and J. Barron Strother, and to their local broker, Hank Correa, Jr., of Hank Correa Realty, for their support in making this donation to the people of Hawaii.
A rare ocean access on the Hamakua coast
This 3.2-acre site, located at the shoreline next to the beach at Hakalau, will be a tremendous long-term recreational asset to the County.
In the years since the closure of the mill around 1973, the beach area has become popular with surfers, fishermen and beachgoers.
It is one of the few shoreline areas on the Hamakua Coast where swimmers and surfers can get into the ocean. The site was cleared and cleaned before Continental Pacific's acquisition of it from Mauna Kea Agribusiness.
The mill site comes with an easement to the county road at Hakalau, which can be used for public access to the site.
Partnering with the community to restore access to ocean
The County's short-term plan is to partner with community groups to restore access to the ocean and enable the community to continue its use of the area for surfing, fishing and beachgoing.
It is also noted with tremendous appreciation that Continental Pacific has also granted public access easements along the entire shoreline of its Pepeekeo subdivisions, creating public access along an area almost three miles long.
Access to many areas of the island has been of deep concern to the people of Hawai'i because of various issues of land ownership and development, and this is an example of a very beautiful arrangement by the private sector to address this concern of the people.
Mayor Kim acknowledges and thanks Planning Director Chris Yuen, who has been working on this for some time to restore full access to Hakalau Beach. Ensuring public access has been one of Mr. Yuen's priorities, not only for Hakalau but for the entire island. A sincere thank you to Mr. Yuen for doing this work.
The Hakalau mill donation, like other donations to the County, requires County Council acceptance. The County administration has consulted with the district councilmember, Dr. Fred Holschuh, who has expressed support for accepting the donation.
Mahalo nui loa to everyone who helped make this happen for our community.