In the next few years, a number of planning decisions will be made that will significantly affect the future of our region. The goal of the Waimea CDP Committee is to "grow" citizens that understand the environment, history and values of our community, modern planning approaches and techniques, and livable community principles so that they can effectively participate in the decision-making process. We hope to bring a long term, "big-picture" perspective to what is often a fragmented process. We understand, however, that "the devil is in the details" and we want to make sure that those details communicated to the public.
Examples of issues we will learn about include: How will the $52 million Waimea Bypass and the $10 million Mamalahoa Hwy-Kawaihae Rd Connector Project affect our quality of life, land use decisions and retail businesses? Are there opportunities for preserving open space for parks and corridors for trails and bikeways as our community grows? Can we improve the health and safety of our residents by making our community more walkable and bikable? What techniques are available for preserving the unique character of our community? How is the community development plan process (described in our recently-adopted County General Plan) to be carried out? How can we encourage wide-spread community participation in the planning process?
Waimea Community Association
The Board of the Waimea Community Association (WCA) has agreed to make our committee as a standing committee of the WCA when its bylaws are updated by the WCA membership. Please join the WCA by then and participate in the vote by mailing $12 and your contact information to WCA, c/o Bets Lawrence, P.O. Box 607, Kamuela, HI 96743.
Kohala Center Educational Program
The Kohala Center is seeking funding for the educational, community building program described below:
In contemporary Hawaii--and particularly in Waimea on Hawai`i Island--the settlement rate of new residents has been set on fast forward. The South Kohala District has been growing in population so rapidly that the physical and social infrastructure strains to accommodate the change. The U. S. Census Bureau shows that South Kohala’s population grew by 44% between 1990 and 2000. The County Department of Research and Development estimates that population growth in the same region was over 20% between 2000 and 2005—that’s a population growth averaging between 4 and 5% a year for the past 15 years!
Many of these new residents are from different cultural backgrounds and socio-economic strata than the ranching, farming, and small business families who have lived in Waimea and South Kohala over a longer term. These differences can heighten tensions in an already strained environment. In addition to the prospect of a continued rapid influx of professional and retired people from the mainland, there will also be a substantial number of new Hawaiian residents of Waimea in the next five years, as Hawaiian Homelands are developed. It is most important that new Hawaiian and mainland families are peacefully and productively integrated into existing social networks, so that Waimea can remain a safe and civil place to live and raise a family.
During a community survey of health-related quality of life in South Kohala during 1999-2000, residents were asked what they most wanted to preserve and strengthen in their region. They listed:
¨ Small, rural communities whose residents are tolerant of different cultures,
¨ A warm, caring and welcoming place that exhibits aloha,
¨ Strong extended family structure,
¨ A total sense of place: exceptional beauty, healing energy, strong spirituality,
¨ The health of the culture and the land.
The purpose of the proposed project is to assist Waimea families in preserving these desired regional characteristics and integrating new residents into a strong, compassionate and resilient community where people are safe, secure and prepared to meet the challenges of life. This project is the educational prelude to a formal planning process to draw up a Waimea Regional Plan which will have the force of a County Ordinance.
Under the auspices of the Waimea Community Association and in collaboration with a range of other Waimea organizations, The Kohala Center will facilitate a community education program that encourages and structures informed, creative, civil dialog aimed at addressing Waimea’s physical and social infrastructure issues, acknowledging problems while emphasizing opportunities. The educational program will foster the identification of points of agreement among disparate interest groups, so that a subsequent formal planning process can be most productive, factional disputes can be minimized, and emerging disagreements can be resolved effectively.
To kick off the educational community-building program, experts in the fields of Conservation Development, Restoration Ecology, and the New Urbanism—with a specialty in the transformation of ranch lands—will offer seminars and workshops to the general public about sustainable development practices, showcasing contemporary models of growth from other parts of the nation and the world to stimulate creative thinking on the part of Waimea residents. At the same time high school and university students will be collecting background data about Waimea—its geographic and social history, the history of past planning efforts, the stories of its elders, the hopes of its youth. All this information will be posted on a website created by the Waimea Community Association’s Community Development Plan Committee, http://www.waimeaplan.org/index.html; this website will serve as one of the public forums for on-going discussions about Waimea’s future.
In the fall of 2005, an inclusive community development design charette will be facilitated by conservation development faculty and their university students to elicit further ideas from residents about the challenges and opportunities that face Waimea and the design solutions that can meet the needs of its growing and diversifying population. The process will attempt to address the pressing issues of congested regional traffic patterns, downtown accessibility, affordable housing, pressures on school infrastructure, economic development that promotes food and energy security, and other identified community concerns.
Throughout the program, every effort will be made to keep the general public informed about project activities and findings through articles in local papers and organizational newsletters, public affairs programming, website postings, live presentations to community groups at their regular meetings.
In order for the proposed educational process—as well as the subsequent formal planning process--to be successful, participants will have to adequately represent the entire Waimea population. To this end, The Kohala Center and the Waimea Community Association will reach out to include representatives from at least the following groups and organizations in project activities: Parker Ranch; the Hawaiian Homesteaders Association; the Hawaii County Planning Department; the Hawaii County Council; North Hawaii Community Hospital; Waimea Outdoor Circle; Filipino, Hawaiian and Japanese civic clubs; Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce; churches; ranchers and farmers; realtors and developers; landscapers; environmentalists; downtown merchants and other small business people; public and private school administrators, educators and students; young adults and elders. This outreach and inclusion effort is a key part of The Kohala Center’s contribution to the project.
The short-term outcomes of this six month process will be to:
· create bonds of understanding, trust, mutual concern, and friendship among Waimea residents with initially disparate interests;
· promote civic engagement, particularly among youth in Waimea, and involve a broad range of residents in planning for the future of their community;
· provide residents with best practices and innovative approaches to community design, so that they can competently and confidently participate in a formal planning process.
The longer term impact of the educational program would be an inclusive, creative Waimea Regional Plan that successfully promotes social cohesion, personal safety, food security, and sustainable economic development.
The work of the Waimea Design Studio was executed by the School of Architecture at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, in the fall of 2005. Please direct questions, comments and other feedback to info@kohalacenter.org, for forwarding on to the MSU students. One student has specifically asked for reactions to the idea of a farmer's co-op. The presentations can also be viewed on the two computers in the foyer of Lindsey House, just outside the Kohala Center Office, so that community members without computers can have access to them. The office is open Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri, 9am - 4pm.
Research Collaborations
Researchers have also offered to help.
Nino Walker
Nino Walker grew up in Waimea and is pursuing a masters in Landscape Architecture at U.C. Berkeley. He is focusing on rural growth issues and community design through public involvement. His thesis is a theoretical study that will explore how Waimea could respond to growth pressures in ways that preserve and promote the things and places that define the unique way of life. Using a method used successfully in Hale'ewa, he will interview, survey, and conduct public workshops to map out the sacred and precious features that make the town what it is. This forms the starting point from where the community makes specific planning decisions about the location, character, and direction of the changes taking place. Nino will be in Hawaii for most of August doing fieldwork and collecting data. After time for data analysis in Berkeley, he will make a return trip to discuss his findings and conduct follow up workshops.
Nino was in Waimea from July 24-August 23, 2005 to interview residents and survey the environmental resources. He will return during January 2006 to present his findings. You can reach him at nino.walker@berkeley.edu, or call 510-501-0649 if you have questions or would like to get involved.
|
