After hours of testimony and deliberations, the Kaua‘i Planning Commission on Feb. 26 unanimously approved a controversial 148-unit housing project in Kōloa, setting conditions meant to shape how the development will operate. The commission’s vote came after roughly eight and a half hours of public input, including an unsuccessful effort by community groups to intervene in the proceeding.
The Planning Commission approved the project with specific requirements tied to how the homes could be used and who would be eligible to live there. The conditions included limits intended to ensure the units are not used as vacation rentals and a requirement that at least 45% of the units go to existing county residents.
The developer, Mike Serpa of SK Investors LLC, told the commission that vacation rentals were not part of the plan and that housing locals was always his intention. Serpa said he previously built the Kōloa Village shopping center and is also building the neighboring 60-unit Kauhale at the Village condo complex, and he described efforts by his team to ensure units were sold to existing residents.
Serpa said the Kauhale units were “quietly sold” so his team could focus on directing them to existing residents as much as possible. He said his goal was to sell at least two-thirds to locals, and said he had surpassed that target, with about 70% of the 59 units sold going to local buyers, mostly first-time homebuyers.
Throughout the hearing, opponents raised concerns about whether the development fits the surrounding area and whether it could strain local systems. Community groups Friends of Māhā’ulepū and Save Kōloa argued that the project was ill-suited for Kōloa and would exacerbate the rural town’s safety issues, and they also took issue with the project’s analysis of whether Native Hawaiian traditional practices would be impacted and with whether proper notice was given.
The groups sought to intervene but the commission denied their petition as untimely. Commission records in the reporting said such petitions are supposed to be filed at least seven days before the first public hearing, which for this case was Jan. 13.
Save Kōloa’s Elizabeth Okinaka, speaking during the hearing, said the road conditions were a key concern. “We can’t keep approving these things without the proper infrastructure,” Okinaka said. “Waikomo Road is a one-lane road. We have all the children that walk to and from Kōloa school every single day on this road. It is crazy that he would not have to present a traffic study or at least a traffic plan before this is approved.”
Supporters said the project would help keep longtime community members from leaving and argued it addresses a pressing shortage of homes. David Jay Ledee, who rents a studio at Kōloa Village and owns the six-month-old Mura Izakaya, said his employees—aside from him and his partner—are from Kaua‘i and argued the project would allow workers to afford housing. “This project will allow my workers to actually afford something because every one of them is living with their parents,” Ledee said. “This would give a good opportunity for them to own something in paradise.”
In addition to the broader debate over housing needs and infrastructure, the hearing included considerations about the commissioners’ participation. Reporting said Francis DeGracia recused himself from participating in the project’s hearing, citing that his employer testified in support of the permits.
As chair of the Planning Commission, Gerald Ako described the case as the most challenging he had heard during his tenure. In explaining the decision, Ako said it came down to Kaua‘i’s dire need for more homes, and he said that while the project site could accommodate fewer units, those would be priced much higher than residents can afford. “I don’t live in Kōloa but I think there’s a lot of unhappy people today because it’s going to be crowded in there,” Ako said. “But the choices I think that we face right now is the fact that do we want like 50 luxury homes that will more than likely be bought from someone off-island coming in and just adding to the situation there, as opposed to having 148 gap homes, which will actually go to local people?”