Unanimous Vote to Rezone land for Contentious Koa Ridge Project

Today the Honolulu City Council voted unanimously to pass Bill 48 on third reading which rezones the land commonly referred to under the project title Koa Ridge, a Castle and Cooke venture. 

There has been much heated debate surrounding the proposed project, much of it centered around concerns of increased traffic congestion and the irreversible destruction of "prime ag. land".

The project has been forwarded, mainly under the label of "affordable housing" for the expanding population of Oahu.  Many if not most of the days testifiers on Bill 48 represented businesses, unions, or construction companies, all in favor of passage.

The dissenting voices were individuals, claiming concern for the future of the area and the island.  Some questioned whether the proposed "affordable housing" was actually "affordable" citing the qualifications for that designation as "140% of median income...That's market value!".  Council Member Menor made a point of asking what affordable housing is.

One of the individual testifiers called out, "This isn't for us...this is for Castle and Cooke" and "I don't want the crappy jobs," referring to her comments that any jobs which would come from the project would be temporary or would be low wage employment.

The final vote counts are as follows:

HONOLULU CITY COUNCIL VOTE RESULTS OF THE MOTION TO PASS BILL 48 TO REZONE AREA KNOWN AS KOA RIDGE 11/13/2013 (AYE = REZONE LAND; NO = DO NOT REZONE LAND; EXCUSED = ABSENT)
COUNCIL MEMBER	Ayes	Noes	Excused
ANDERSON, Ikaika	X
CHANG, Stanley	X
FUKUNAGA, Carol	X (RES)
HARIMOTO, Breene	X
KOBAYASHI, Ann	X (RES)
MANAHAN, Joey	X (RES)
MARTIN, Ernest  Y.	X
MENOR, Ron	X (RES)
PINE, Kymberly Marcos	X

As a side note, the Council also passed through Resolution 13-260:  

authorizing the use of overt video monitoring in the City and County of Honolulu to prevent and deter general criminal activity and achieve the legitimate law enforcement objective and legitimate public purpose of ensuring a safe and secure 2013 Honolulu Marathon event.

and deferred Bill 62 which would require use of helmets for  

minors when operating a skateboard, roller skates, including inline skates, a toy vehicle or a similar device upon the public sidewalks, alleys, malls, parks, grounds, parking lots, and other public places where such operation is permitted  

citing concerns about required arrest of minors.