New Turtle Bay Master Plan in Works

Just got a letter from Turtle Bay Resorts, saying that Replay Resorts has been brought in to oversee the entire resort -- including hotel management and the "real estate development program." I wrote about it in my Honolulu Star-Advertiser Career Changers blog, which you can read by clicking here.

To sum up for those who aren't familiar with the Turtle Bay controversy, there were plans drawn up two decades ago that would allow for expansion of up to 3,500 new rooms. Considering there is a single two-lane highway that serves the resort and surrounding communities, some thought that might present a bit of a problem. Not only that, the plan could impact shoreline access and alter the "country" feel of that area on the North Shore. The public outcry succeeded in halting expansion until a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement could be done.

The new owners and Replay Resorts are now saying they want community input, and intend to create a new master plan that will address the concerns of residents. They seem to by backing away from the plans to add 3,500 units and say they do not want to develop gated luxury communities like you see around the Waikoloa resorts on the Big Island. That's good. Better yet, they are working with two land trusts to place a conservation easement on 469 acres of land mauka of Kamehameha Highway, which will be preserved for farming use. That's great news.

Let's hope they live up to their promise that they will be more transparent and responsive to community concerns.

Big Island Access Battle Redux

The latest flare-up over public beach access takes us to... spins wheel... the Big Island again. Rather than rehash a variation of a familiar story we've been retelling for the past few years on every island, here's the link to the Hawaii Tribune-Herald article.

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2010/05/13/local_news/local02.txt

I found the link by accident while checking the new CivilBeat.com site to see if they had any interesting news to report that wasn't already being covered by the Advertiser or Star-Bulletin. And what do I see? A post about the controversy over beach land and the recent court ruling in favor of the public...

Of course, there's much more involved and the new State legislation to make homeowners responsible for maintaining vegetation on ocean-front properties could have been brought into play too. But I don't know because I'm not a paying subscriber.

What's especially irritating is that Beach Access Hawaii has been at the forefront of the public shoreline access movement and generated a lot of media coverage over the past two years -- yet no one from Civil Beat bothers to contact anyone from BAH or our coalition about this issue? Did they ask why the State Legislature or county councils continue to do nothing? Has CB considered our proposal to create a Hawaii Coastal Commission to address these kind of problems?

Great job of reporting, CB! I had hoped Pierre Omidyar's investment in an alternative news source for Hawaii was going to bring some sorely needed investigative reporting. But so far, it's not much different than the normal newspaper stuff with very polite bloggers telling their paying subscribers, "Good point!"

Beach access is a volatile issue for local people and Hawaiians in particular. I've personally heard from many residents who get very emotional when they talk story about what it means to them. Yet the Civil Beat has turned it into just another dry topic of the week for "discussion." And they wonder why people aren't willing to pay even 99 cents to try it out?

For what it's worth, here's the link to the CivilBeat post... er, excerpt. BTW, we posted links to more in-depth articles on that subject months ago. Suggestion to CB reporters: try Google -- it's your friend.