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ALOHA! I'm David W. Fukumoto, a resident of
Kurtistown since 1973. That year I formed Fuku-Bonsai as
the first Hawaii State Certified Export Nursery. I'm
bullish on the Puna district and believe it can be the finest
place in Hawaii to live. But it has major problems and
this portal directly addresses some of the problems. Puna is the fastest growing district in the state and between the 1990 and 2000 census population increased by over 50%! The cheapest land in Hawaii is attracting new residents. Hilo's current population is estimated at 45,000. Puna is already 37,000, growing much more rapidly, and will pass Hilo in just a few years. It can continue to grow and easily become several times the size of Hilo! The district of Puna is larger than the islands of Oahu, Maui, or Kauai and being relatively flat, Puna can have a HUGE population. It is the desire of Puna residents to preserve the rural character and primarily agricultural lifestyle. But whether we like it or not, Puna is a rural sprawl of large parcels that already allow one (or more) structures! Several huge substandard unimproved subdivisions were created in the 1950's and 1960's without paved roads, water, or infrastructure and are the cheapest land in Hawaii. LET THE BUYERS BEWARE! You get what you pay for and each subdivision community maintains their own private roads, lobbies to bring in water, and struggles to try to install infrastructure to allow neighborhood villages to purchase basic necessities in this auto-dependant situation. New substandard unimproved subdivisions are no longer allowed and there are a few subdivisions that include all infrastructure. The major landowner W. H. Shipman Ltd. is known to be a community supporter and has announced a Keaau Master Plan that includes Keaau Village where it will be possible to have all amenities within walking or biking distance. There will also be a Keaau Regional Center with shopping and services. The mayor and county counsel has created a vehicle for citizen participation and the Puna Community Development Plan is an opportunity for our generation to shape the future for our district to prosper and become the finest place to live! I became interested in planning due to a number of morning meetings with then governor John Burns in the 1960's as he shared the concepts of planning the Queen Kaahumanu Highway that made possible the Kona-Kohala visitor destination area. I participated in the State Transportation Plan and the Puna Regional Circulation Plan. Fuku-Bonsai is off Olaa Road, a narrow one lane road with a 30' wide easement. Somehow it is the primary access road to the top of Orchidland Estates and the bottom of Hawaiian Acres but was never improved in spite of being the primary access to Volcano Highway 11. It's like a time bomb as more and more people move into the subdivision. Our community does not want it to become a major arterial. I've made some friends in these subdivisions and we've been trying to develop a solution for many years. The Puna Community Development Plan focused efforts to enlarge our perspectives and I participated in the Growth Management - Land Use and New Alternate Corridors - Transportation working groups. But neither of these groups were willing or able to address the larger issues and we decided to issue an independent report that was submitted by email on February 12, 2007. We need alternate roads instead of depending upon a single major road between Hilo and Keaau, between Keaau and Volcano, and between Keaau and Pahoa. A single obstruction can paralyze our district. With low family incomes we need larger scale business parks, light industry, and higher pay jobs within Puna. There is a strong need to design and build an efficient mass transit system. Until and unless the jobs, services, and shopping are brought to where people live, we will continue to create increasingly larger traffic problems. If properly located and built, roads will also create new economic opportunities! Puna must step up, stop complaining, and assume a pro-active leadership role. We should dream good dreams and get down to work to make things happen!
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