A Canadian investor with connections to Whistler Mountain in British Columbia is planning to build an aerial tramway, or gondola, along with a powered zipline on agricultural lands he acquired from Dole Foods several years ago.  The project called Kamananui would be built on parts of 2300 acres of valley and hillside lands between Kaukonahua Road and Mount Kaala. The project would include a visitor center, hiking and biking trails and some elements labeled agricultural.

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There are many problems with this project, besides that fact that few people want a major tourist attraction on the dangerous, narrow Kaukonahua Rd, or mechanized joy rides up the side of Mt. Kaala. Rather than admit that the primary purpose of this project is to generate money from tourist attractions, the developer is exploiting zoning laws by calling the project an agribusiness operation. The underlying permit is based on the premise that the agribusiness operations are secondary and accessory to a primary agricultural activity.

 

The Conditional Use Permit, Minor, that could permit this enterprise, was approved by the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting in 2019.  The approval has many conditions that have not been fulfilled like the establishment of agroforestry and koa planting on 933 acres.  A major condition of approval is that more than half of the land must be placing in active agriculture.  Six year later, Kamananui have achieved 51.5 acres of koa plantings and they want to abandon the remaining forestry commitment.

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Other major concerns are that there has been no environmental assessment or EIS, no community presentations and the projected visitor numbers are suspiciously low, conveniently avoiding consideration of a wastewater treatment plant that is most likely warranted. 

 

Kamananui has now applied to modify its agritourism permit in seven ways:

1. Modified Gondola Route and Stations to Lower Elevations (Consolidates the cafe and upper station commercial activities.) 

2. Modified Zipline Size and Location (Changing to an electric chair ride, more commercial activity at top)

3. Modified Hiking and Biking Trails and Related Accessibility Features (Centralization as in 1 and 2)

4. Modified Agribusiness Structures (Deletes forestry, expands grazing and land conservation labels) 

5. Modification of Top Station and Mid Station Layouts and Design 

6. Modification to Approved Composting Toilet Facilities (Better toilets and facilities at top station and cafe)

7. Joint Development Agreement and Incorporation of Adjacent Parcel for Enhanced Access and Driveway Improvements (Original visitor center entrance was in a worse location than this option) 

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With only two days public notice after the KHON news report from Nikki Shenfeld, 128 pieces of public testimony were submitted.  Keep the North Shore Country has been following this project since the beginning, but there has been little opportunity to weigh in.  We submitted our serious concerns about the lack of study and protections for endanger species know to be in the area (here), and a more thorough list of concerns specific to the modification application (here).

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This project should not have been approved a minor conditional use; the impacts are not insignificant.  The tourism activities are not secondary and accessory to agriculture; they are indisputably the primary enterprise on this agricultural land.  An EIS is needed to address potential impacts on endangered species, traffic volumes and movements, wastewater disposal, and protection of historical sites in the valley.

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DPP must reject the modification application to the existing "minor" permit and require a new major Conditional Use Permit, EIS, and community engagement.