HARD

HARD is a fully voluntary grassroots effort with no paid employees. We welcome additional volunteers and their various skills and talents.
*HARD is not a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Monetary donations are not tax deductible. Donations will be used for email and website hosting and fees, for printing and mailing costs, and other administrative expenses.

Yes. HARD invites and urges a collaborative inclusion of all community voices at the outset of and throughout the development decision-making process.

HARD envisions a blooming continuation of Hahaione Valley’s residential character with its diverse demographics, ethnicities and cultures of people who peacefully co-exist and call Hahaione Valley home.

Absolutely. Anyone who supports respectful, inclusive development is encouraged to sign the petition, attend public meetings and volunteer. Many HARD members are involved with respectful development efforts in other Hawaii Kai neighborhoods whose KSBE leases will soon expire, and with environmental and other causes.

Visit www.HahaioneAdvocates.com periodically for any new information on
development plans.

As we learn more, the site will share updates and how or where to:

volunteer

circulate the petition

walk door-to-door

drop flyers

attend public and HARD meetings, and *donate

In Hahaione Valley, the affected commercial properties are located from 6640 to 6660 Hawaii Kai Drive between Pepeekeo and Hahaione Streets. 7-11, the gas station and Boston Pizza are on one parcel; the middle parcel is the Kokohead Plaza with numerous small businesses, churches, and the pet clinic; and the third parcel is the Japan-America Institute for Management Sciences’ (JAIMS) two-story building that is mostly hidden by a grove of trees.

Yes, JAIMS does. Hahaione Elementary School and Hahaione Community Park border the entire mauka boundaries of the JAIMS parcel. The Village Green townhouses on Pepeekeo lie between the 7-11 and Kokohead Plaza properties, and the school.

The Village Green townhomes on Pepeekeo Street, which are a mix of fee simple and leasehold properties, are directly adjacent to all three commercial properties from 7-11 to the JAIMS building. KSBE holds the land lease for Village Green’s leasehold townhomes. Also, there are hundreds of multi- and single-family residences feeding onto Hawaii Kai Drive that could be affected by new development on the affected commercial properties.

According to the Department of Planning & Permitting (DPP), the three commercial parcels bordered by Hawaii Kai Drive are zoned as B-2 Community Business District with a maximum building height of 60 feet.

The Village Green Condominiums is zoned as A-1 Low Density with a maximum building height of 40 feet.

You may also hear the language “Land Use Ordinance” or “LUO” when developers and the media refer to legal zoning designations.

The current commercial businesses include 7-11, a gas station, Boston Pizza, and the Kokohead Plaza office building with numerous small businesses, churches, a yoga clinic and pet clinic. An international preschool currently occupies part of the tree-covered JAIMS building near Hahaione Street.

The parcels underlying these properties are owned by Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate (KSBE). The land leases are currently set to expire in 2028. There is a possibility that a lease may be voluntarily terminated sooner if both KSBE and the lessee agree.
JAIMS, which sits on the largest land parcel of nearly six acres, has already begun winding down its business.

The current tenant mix on the three land parcels serve useful community purposes and complement the quiet residential character of the area. The preschool has indicated it would like to extend its lease at the JAIMS building. There are many other potential tenants who could occupy the remainder of the building, such as a charter school, other educational entities, churches, or nonprofit organizations.
Because the JAIMS property adjoins the Hahaione Elementary School and Hahaione Community Park, another compatible new use could be a multi-cultural, multi-use center for keiki to kupuna that would service all of Hawaii Kai and nearby communities, including Kuliouou, Kamilonui and Kalama valleys and surrounding residential neighborhoods. A community center or multi-use gathering space would also be consistent with HARD’s goals and the East Honolulu Sustainable Communities Plan.
HARD would consider supporting other uses that are also compatible with HARD’s mission.

Facilities with 24/7 activities are not respectful or suitable for any quiet residential area and should not expand in Hahaione Valley. These types of businesses would be best situated within the more concentrated commercial development along Keahole Street (from Safeway to Costco and the various restaurants and office buildings) and at the Koko Marina Shopping Center (which has several commercial vacancies).

A supermarket is a 24/7 business with heavy vehicular traffic that would endanger pedestrians, especially a location with schools next door. A supermarket’s 24/7 air conditioning and cooling systems, and delivery trucks’ exhaust, refrigeration systems, and back up warning signals, will transfer noise into the community throughout the day and night. Traffic generated by a supermarket will significantly impact pedestrians and the surrounding communities.

The affected commercial parcels dominate the Hahaione Valley view plane, and a high rise could be situated in the center of this limited view plane area. Additionally, the three affected parcels border the only two streets in and out of the valley for the thousands of existing residents and the Hahaione Elementary School, and more new residents on the affected properties will worsen traffic backups on Hawaii Kai Drive and Pepeekeo and Hahaione Streets.

Although increased density by adding high-rises for housing or commercial development may be appropriate in other areas with sufficient infrastructure, such densification is not appropriate in Hahaione Valley as Hawaii Kai already lacks sufficient power, sewage, water, and traffic infrastructure to support increases in population and there is no rail that will alleviate the traffic on Kalanianaole Highway and into Hawaii Kai. Moreover, the East Honolulu Sustainability Plan, ranging from the Kahala area to Hawaii Kai, recognizes
that East Honolulu is already at housing capacity and at most can accommodate 300 new residential homes.

The existing high-rise condos in Hawaii Kai were intentionally planned and built against the mountains to not block the ocean view planes from Hahaione Valley. In contrast, if high rise buildings are constructed on the commercial parcels located at 6640 to 6660 Hawaii Kai Drive between Hahaione and Pepeekeo Streets, they would dominate the main view plane to the ocean from Hahaione Valley, where homes have been built since the 1960’s.

Increased development of these properties would result in increased traffic, which could adversely affect access to the only two streets in and out of Hahaione Valley. Increased traffic would also make it more difficult for the many side streets and home driveways to access Hawaii Kai Drive, especially during rush hour periods or potential emergencies. Increased development may also add to increased traffic along Kalanianaole Highway during rush hours, thus impacting all of Hawaii Kai and neighboring communities.

Of critical importance is the potential increased danger to the children and
children and parents who walk or ride bikes to and from Hahaione
Elementary school daily.

Hahaione Valley is surrounded by mountains covered in highly flammable haole koa, which grow next to residential lots, and a wildfire could quickly consume homes and spread urban fires throughout the valley. Many of those who perished in the Lahaina wildfire were killed in their cars due to frozen traffic. Disastrous flooding has also occurred in Hahaione Valley.

The condos and townhouses at the base of Hahaione Street have a total of
623 units, which mean that there are potentially over 1,000 vehicles that
could be trying to get onto Hahaione Street to turn onto Hawaii Kai Drive
during an emergency. There are an additional 392 units in the condos from
the Heritage House to the Plaza which feed onto Hawaii Kai Drive. Intensified
new development on Hawaii Kai Drive between Hahaione and Pepeekeo
Streets would adversely impact emergency services into and evacuation from
Hahaione Valley via its only two vehicular access points, which is a recipe for
disaster during a major wildfire or urban fire, flood, or other calamity.

Increased traffic and development results in increased air and noise pollution and urban heat, especially if the grove of monkeypod trees on the JAIMS
property at 6660 Hawaii Kai Drive is destroyed. It has been estimated that a
mature monkeypod tree with a crown diameter of 49 feet absorbs 28.5
metric tons of CO2 annually, and the JAIMS property has at least 20 large
monkeypod trees, not including its more than 30 smaller trees. The loss of
this community forest and the increased traffic would mean less carbon
sequestration and natural beauty, more air and noise pollution, and a hotter
urban area, which could also reduce property values. Loss of the trees would
also contradict the government’s ongoing attempts to expand urban
canopies, which was supported by a $42.6 million grant to Hawaii
organizations in 2024 and Governor Green’s proclamation of 2025 as the
Year of Our Community Forests.

If a large, full-service supermarket, which has been mentioned as a potential development, or other more intense commercialization of the properties occurs, there will be deliveries throughout the day, including early mornings and late evenings, with trucks beeping as they back up, noisy refrigerators, and air conditioning compressors running 24/7. Residents in nearby homes and high rises and students at Hahaione Elementary School would be adversely affected by the noise, as many of structures were built to freely capture Hawaii’s trade winds and residents often do not have or want to use air conditioning.

Extensive new development will present a strain on the current sewage, water and traffic infrastructure, and our power grid which already is at the “end of the line” and subject to frequent blackouts.

Depending on the extent of new
development and especially during construction periods, children at the
preschool at JAIMS and the Hahaione Elementary School abutting the property may face new health, safety, and learning concerns from increased
automobile traffic, air and noise pollution, and crime caused by increased
densification.

At the November, 2024 Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board (HKNB) meeting, KSBE was scheduled to present its plans for the numerous east Honolulu parcels with leases soon to expire. At the meeting, however, KSBE’S spokesperson stated that they were not ready.

KSBE had said it would also share its Kamilonui Valley plans at the November, 2024 HKNB meeting. KSBE’s spokesperson, however, stated it had no plan to present and would only say that they are negotiating individually with the lessees.
During the HKNB meeting, community testifiers stated that KSBE has said for years it would share its plans, but instead it repeatedly returns to the community with no plans. Instead, testifiers stated, KSBE notifies the community after its lands have been leased or sold, at which time KSBE claims that it is no longer responsible for the development plans of those properties.

HARD is working proactively in hopes that the Hahaione Valley community will be included in a transparent planning and decision-making process. We do not want to be like the Kamilonui families and farmers (and the adjacent residential neighborhoods) who said they were not shown KSBE’s plans despite their impending lease expirations in May 2025.

While we hope the development process will be respectful and transparent, we are prepared to factually correct developers’ claims that are inconsistent with the community’s views. Based on decades of published reports about land lease expirations and other developments in Hawaii, we have seen how developers hire lawyers, public relation teams, engineers, architects, and paid cultural spokespersons to legitimize their development plans and to quietly seek government funding and zoning (building requirement) changes. Using select, anonymous “community stakeholder” meetings or limited surveys, developers often state that the community is neutral or supports the
development plans.
Our petition demonstrates that our community does not support high rise or more intensified development of the affected commercial parcels. Please sign the petition online here.

Yes. The building height could be increased if our district’s current Councilmember Tommy Waters (who is also currently the Chair of the Council) and the rest of the Council and Mayor allow zoning variances at the request of KSBE, its lessee, land purchaser or developer.
HARD’s efforts, with your help, will be a strong voice in opposition to any variance changes. We will inform you immediately on our website or via email if we learn of any requests submitted for variances.

No. HARD honors and reveres KSBE’s cultural and educational contributions. We support KSBE’s website statement to promote “culture, ōlelo, and āina-focused opportunities for community” and we are hopeful this statement and the Hahaione community’s input will extend into KSBE’s plans and its land purchasers or lessees’ vision for the entrance to Hahaione Valley.
HARD understands KSBE’s rights as a landowner, and our community group hopes that KSBE as Hawaii’s largest private landowner will respect and include the voices of our community being impacted before it directly or indirectly develops its properties through future leases or sales.

The landscape architect for the Japan-America Institute for Management Sciences (JAIMS) property was Robert M. Fujiwara. Long before Governor Ariyoshi’s wife, Jean, began the 1985 campaign to plant “A Million Trees of Aloha,” over twenty monkeypod trees and dozens of smaller trees were planted to shelter the JAIMS building and create a community forest. According to one study, a mature monkeypod tree with 49-foot
crown diameter sequesters approximately 28.5 metric tons of carbon annually. Therefore, we roughly estimate that the JAIMS monkeypod and other trees absorb over 600 metric tons of carbon each year.
While Hawaii and the world have been reaching new heat records, tree canopies help to cool urban areas, combat air and noise pollution, recharge the water supply, and provide physiological and emotional benefits to improve overall health. Communities with more trees are not only cooler, but they also tend to have higher income levels and property values. In 2024, the federal government granted $42.6 million to Hawaii organizations to expand the urban tree canopy, especially in disadvantaged communities. Governor Josh Green has proclaimed 2025 to be the “Year of Our Community Forests.” The JAIMS property is a living example of what a community forest can look like. Rather than cutting them down and releasing the carbon held within, it is much more efficient and climate friendly to sustain the JAIMS trees.

The Japan-America Institute for Management Sciences (JAIMS) was a non-profit educational institution founded in 1972 by Fujitsu, Ltd. of Japan. The two-story JAIMS building at 6660 Hawaii Kai Drive was completed in 1973 at a cost of over $2.1 million, which in 2024 dollars would be valued at approximately $18 million. The building’s architect was Hideo Murakami, who was a fellow of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, worked as an architectural design draftsman with noted Hawaii architect Vladimir Ossipoff, and became the Comptroller of Hawaii’s Department of Accounting and General Services in 1974 under Governor George Ariyoshi’s administration.
Governor Ariyoshi was Lt. Governor in 1970 to 1974 to Hawaii’s first elected Governor, John A. Burns, and following Burns’ death, Ariyoshi was elected Governor from 1974 to 1986. As the first Japanese American governor of any state, who also spoke Japanese, Ariyoshi played a crucial role in fostering the special relationship between the Japan and Hawaii, and eventually other nations of the Asia-Pacific region. Beginning with his work as Lt. Governor under Burns, Ariyoshi encouraged the formation of key organizations nurturing Asia-Pacific relations, such as the Japan-Hawaii Economic Council, Pacific Basin Development Council, the East-West Center’s Pacific Island Development Council. Ariyoshi also one of JAIMS’s three Trustee Emeritus. For over 50 years, JAIMS was a distinguished pioneer in intercultural post-graduate management education in the Asia-Pacific region and provided cross-cultural business seminars and education to more than 20,000 participants from 50 countries, many of whom were or have become business leaders of companies throughout the Asia-Pacific region. A November 1998 report by Hawaii’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) entitled “Education and the Economy” recognized the direct economic benefits of education as a $2 billion industry and the value of edu-
tourism activities in Hawaii through cross-cultural and executive management programs such as JAIMS. A November 2018 update by DBEDT concluded that in 2017, the average international student spent $18,697, resulting in $497.5 million being added to Hawaii’s total economic output, which generated $38.2 million in state taxes and $219.8 million in household earnings, and supported 5,264 jobs.
Although JAIMS was dissolved in 2024 as a nonprofit organization, it donated that year $477,000 to the University of Hawaii to create new programs and an endowment fund to continue contributing to education and leadership development, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, through student scholarships and activities designed to enrich students and faculty’s global experience.
Ideally, a new owner or lessee of the JAIMS property will continue to house educational programs and activities, including the existing international preschool.