KEEPING IT COUNTRY - SURFERS EVERYWHERE WHO CARE ABOUT THE NORTH SHORE HAVE TO FIGHT THIS THING!
Pancho’s been working with the “Keep The North Shore Country” coalition to halt a development project that threatens the very livelihood of the planet’s most hallowed stretch of surf.
“Unfortunately, Hawaii is ripe for development. A lot of people are capitalising on the appeal of what surfing has brought to this stretch. The hotel they’re proposing, a massive extension of the Turtle Bay Resort, would be focussed on the pristine Kawela Bay stretch. It will change the whole fabric of the community. The way I envision it happening is similar to - frightening to think - Ka Napoli on Maui, a series of golf courses and hotels on the beach.
To our detriment, council and state governments in Hawaii right now are looking at short-term financial gain as a fix-all to the economy. The beauty is the most valuable resource of these islands, and once it’s all developed there will be nothing to separate it from hundreds of other resorts around the world. This is why Hawaii is Hawaii.
The fight that’s going on here is that, hey, this is something that was something that was proposed and approved 25 years ago, since then there’s been a lot of
development and the infrastructure hasn’t been improved enough to accommodate that many additional cars or additional people. We have a two-lane road; one way in, one way out. As it is, when there are waves, the traffic is just ridiculous.
It’s being battled in court now, the community is requesting the state do an updated environmental impact statement, that would change things as far as the permits on what they’re allowed to do goes. If the development goes through, it will put such drastic pressures on this area, so many more cars, even all through the construction phase. This was a rural area, set aside for agriculture, Honolulu is already developed enough, a lot of people come out to enjoy this area.
The politicians are jumping on the bandwagon talking about jobs, but Hawaii has the lowest unemployment of any state in the US. It’s all about re-election campaigns, greasing the right people and moving forward with the construction while the coast suffers.
“We’re fighting investors with millions of dollars, a tourism boom, the whole of America focussed on Hawaii, councils that approve anything for short term gain. We have to stop this, this is serious!”
We have a council member opposed to the Turtle Bay expansion program but we urgently have to raise awareness, it will be very hard to stop this project because of the millions of dollars invested already and the pressure placed on council by the concreters’ union and the painters’ union, groups who stand to make a lot of money from it. But it’s simply not a long-term solution for the community. Once it’s done, it’s done! The only work will be low paying service jobs and there are not even people out here to fill those jobs.
We need people to approach the Oak Tree Development Corporation and the Turtle Bay Group (see the petition) and let them know just how special the area is, and that it’s the very reason surfers from all over the world go there. The proposed area is one of the most beautiful areas in all of Hawaii. To come in and do something like that, it will definitely have huge effects on marine and indigenous bird populations, vegetation, forests. They’re going to go in and bulldoze all of it. This is the Seven Mile Miracle. The more people who can apply pressure on them will help. All of you from all over the world who
understand the beauty of this place, that beauty that should remain so future generations can enjoy these open spaces.
You can’t stop development altogether but there are definitely areas that are better suited to development than, say, here. Even the Westside is under pressure, there’s change over there, more things proposed. Since September 11, a lot more investors feel safer with Hawaii, people can get direct flights from most mainland cities, it’s beautiful, tropical, its still in America. They’re buying land, timeshare, condos, hotels - it’s a ripe new investment area. Driving up the property prices, even property taxes have quadrupled in the last three years.
There’s a lot of people, who’ve put a lot of work into it especially Blake Macalaney and Doug Cole. We all have so much admiration for how the community has come together on this to oppose. Time, money, energy, not looking for a pat on the back, all done out of their love for the area. We are a group and can use it to mobilise. There’s strength in numbers.
The North Shore Community has had success in the past. A few years back the community raised the awareness, raised the money and bought back some land and turned it into a community land trust. Which is all the property on the hill above Sunset Beach Elementary School. Developers were proposing a huge gated community, they lobbied the council to rezone the land and the council approved it, despite everyone being against it. Blake got together with the Land Trust Of America to raise state funds, as well as Jack Johnson who’s been a huge supporter, who went to Japan to actually buy the land back from the developers. Now the community is in the process of having it rezoned back to agriculture with maintained hiking trails and a youth education centre.
And let’s not forget Maui - Honolua Bay. My cousin showed me the details over there. A development corporation bought all the land from the pineapple corporation. A group of surfers joined together to halt the golf courses and all types of condos hanging over the point there. It will change the make-up of that sacred surf spot as well. The Honolua community are creating awareness to stop that, to create a benefit. There’s so much attention on Hawaii with TV shows and a massive push for tourism on the mainland
which makes it very difficult to halt this without a groundswell of support from all over the world.
We can set a precedent, not just here in Hawaii. There’s always a place for development, but there should be a green belt along the coastline, we can do this for our kids. There’s enough run-off that kills the reef as it is with these high-density buildings. All surfers are at a crossroad, we’re entering a very dangerous age: Lack of responsibility and ignorance will leave a lot of problems for the next generations after us.
With the WPS, the surfers now have this platform to reach people all over the world. We can reach so many people, surfers like us, and encourage really great things, to effect change in a positive way. Surfers from all over the world can bring forward potential hazards to the coast in their area, a global message board for all so we can keep the big-time development corps accountable.
Thanks for listening and thanks for your support!”
Mahalo,
Pancho Sullivan
