Kamehameha Schools is encouraging public input on its long-term plan for land it owns at Keauhou Bay on Hawaiʻi Island.
The bay is home to historic landmarks like the birthplace of Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III. It also hosts a variety of recreational and commercial activities, and is the site of the Outrigger Kona Resort & Spa.
The plan will help guide and prioritize the school's actions for the use of about 32 acres in and around Keauhou Bay for the next 20 years.
Marissa Harman, asset management director for KS agriculture and conservation lands, says the plan was designed and should be critiqued as a whole "in terms of the commercial and resort piece supporting our stewardship piece, and our stewardship piece supporting our educational piece, and really making room for the entire community at Keauhou Bay."
Harman says this plan will help KS open up these coastal areas to more community gathering spaces and provide for more varied and diverse use than exists now.
"For example, establishment of a new commercial venue will open up our current commercial spaces to be transformed to cultural and educational uses in closer proximity to our wahi pana, or important cultural sites," says Harman. "Some of those wahi pana that exist there of course Kauikeaouli’s birth site. We have Mōʻikeha Cave. We have a spring in the area and a pond. So we’re looking for restoring those as well."
Harman says KS also plans to develop a low-scale resort on the cliff above the Keauhou Bay to help fund future stewardship of the important cultural and historical landmarks nearby.
KS has been working on the Keauhou Bay Management Plan for more than 10 years, following the 2011 tsunami that impacted its landholdings in the area.
The deadline for public comments is Friday, April 22. For more information, visit KSBE.edu/KeauhouBay.
