(BIVN) – A large development proposed for the Waikoloa Village-area stirred evacuation-route concerns during Thursday’s Leeward Planning Commission meeting in Kona.
Waikoloa Green LLC is looking to develop a 400-unit multifamily residential development on 14-acres of Urban designated land on the southeast side of Pua Melia Street, as well as 275 family-agricultural lots over 320 acres. The project will also include sixteen 10-acre lots that may accommodate a food hub and a potential renewable energy project, and 110-acres zoned Open to support open space and public trails.
Waikoloa Green applied for a State Land Use District Boundary Amendment and made various Change of Zone requests for the 700-acre property. The applications went before the Leeward Planning Commission on June 8, 2026.
The Wildfire Safety Advocates submitted testimony in opposition to the development, “unless and until the record establishes that the regional evacuation infrastructure to serve it exists or can reasonably be assured,” the organization stated.
From the testimony submitted by Wildfire Safety Advocates (WSA) Executive Director, Matt Chalker:
We want to be precise about what we are and are not saying. WSA does not oppose housing, and we do not oppose the eventual appropriate development of this parcel. What we oppose is reclassifying land to the Urban district so that 400 to 431 multiple-family units, and ultimately a development authorizing on the order of 650 to 750 households, can be built mauka of and feeding into a community that today has one functional way out, when the application before you contains no analysis of wildfire or evacuation of any kind.
That omission is the heart of our objection. The applicant’s environmental report examines flood hazard (Flood Zone X), tsunami hazard (outside the evacuation zone), volcanic hazard (Lava Zone 8), and unexploded ordnance from the former Waikōloa Maneuver Area. It does not analyze wildfire. It does not analyze evacuation. Yet the applicant’s own botanical survey describes the parcel as “completely covered with grasslands,” dominated by buffelgrass and fountain grass. That is precisely the flashy, fast-moving fuel that carried the 2021 Mana Road Fire and the 2023 Lāhainā fire. The Hawaiʻi Attorney General’s FSRI Phase 2 report assessed Waikōloa’s wildfire risk as marginally higher than that of Lāhainā before its tragedy. To cite hundreds of new households in that fuel bed, in the leeward corridor, and to discuss flood and tsunami while remaining silent on the one hazard that has already forced this community onto the road, is not a complete record. It is the avoidance of the question.
“Now, I realize we – the community – has a problem, and it’s a problem that’s not new,” testified Jon Yoshimura for Waikoloa Green. “And personally, my mom is from Lahina, and we lost property in the fire. I don’t want to see anybody go through that experience dealing with lawyers, dealing with insurance companies, you know, just dealing with the aftermath of that kind of tragedy. So, this is something that’s very, very important to me.”
The commission asked Yoshimura if he sees the evacuation route problem getting fixed before the Waikoloa Green project is built, or after it’s built. “You know there’s a there’s been a lot of activity in Waikoloa,” Yoshimura answered. “There’s been a lot of affordable housing, workforce housing; there’s a new shopping center. There’s all kind of stuff. You know, if you say we’re going to stop and wait until this thing is solved, I don’t think that’s very fair.”
“In the past we’ve heard a lot of discussion about Waikoloa Village being the largest cul-de-sac on the island. I mean, that’s questionable,” commented Hawaiʻi County Planning Director Jeff Darrow. “There’s other areas that you could argue is a cul-de-sac for a particular area because you have one road in, one road out.”
Darrow noted that “there’s been action that’s been happening currently with the Department of Transportation, working with the county and the Department of Public Works, to secure another evacuation emergency access out of the village.”
“This is located near the rear of the village, the Kamakoa, and they are acquiring the right of entries,” Darrow said. “They’re planning on building that access road, the Department of Transportation. So, that’s going to be huge. It’s specific for that use. So, they’re going to build it and it’s going to be very similar to – if you’re not familiar with this – the Hulu emergency access road. That’s another emergency access road that’s located more towards the front of the village.”
“We’ve been waiting for almost two years for these agreements to come to fruition with the private land owners,” testified David Foster with the Waikoloa Safety Advocates. “What is left out of that conversation is that’s only half the road. The other half of the road runs across county land, in order to connect to the village. It’s not clear to the community to what extent the county is really committed. We’ve heard many stories about them trying to facilitate agreements between owners, but that’s only half the problem. And we also need to recognize that that road, and also the Hulu road, are strictly emergency egress roads. They’re not a permanent solution.”
The commissioners voted to give the Waikoloa Green application a positive recommendation, and asked that as a condition of approval, Waikoloa Green must include an update on the development of an evacuation road in its required Annual Progress Report (APR) to the Planning Director.
