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Council seeks vacation rental balance
PROTECTING NEIGHBORHOOD CHARACTER, RAISING REVENUE ARE GOALS
Holualoa
woman killed
in 3-car
crash in
North Kona
POLICE: SPEED A
LIKELY CONTRIBUTING
FACTOR
BY TIFFANY DEMASTERS
WEST HAWAII TODAY
tdemasters@westhawaiitoday.com
Big Island’s newest baby
MONK SEAL GIVES BIRTH TO PUP ON NORTH KONA BEACH
BY CHELSEA JENSEN
WEST HAWAII TODAY
cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com
KAILUA-KONA — A monk seal
and her recently born pup are doing
well resting on a North Kona beach.
Manu‘iwa, as the female pup has
been named, was born Feb. 8 to
RA20, a 10-year-old female monk
seal that does not have a nickname,
at a Kona Coast beach, said
Tracy Mercer with the National
Association and Atmospheric
Association’s Hawaiian Monk Seal
Research Program.
“This is her first successful pup,”
Mercer said.
RA20 did give birth to a pup last
year on the Big Island, however, that
seal died just a couple of days after
birth.
The pup also has some pretty
famous Hawaiian monk seals
in her family. Manu‘iwa is a
SEE MONK SEAL PAGE 5A
Manu‘iwa, as the female pup has been named, was
born Feb. 8 to RA20, a 10-year-old female monk
seal that does not have a nickname, at a beach on
the Kona Coast. ©BARRY BRUNT/SPECIAL TO WEST HAWAII TODAY
Rapidly razed OLD KEAUHOU BEACH HOTEL
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HI 80 LO 72 WEATHER, PAGE 8A
VOL. 50, NO. 73 16 PAGES
INSIDE
POWER
AGAINST
PESTS
Bill would create
Invasive Species
Authority
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2018 WESTHAWAIITODAY.COM 75¢
HILO — County Council members
are calling for a balance that
would allow revenue-generating
vacation rentals in some areas,
while keeping them from consuming
neighborhoods in others.
The council Finance Committee
heard a 90-minute presentation
from computer analyst Stefan
Buchta, who’s concerned about
his Leleiwi neighborhood being
overrun by the short-term rental
business.
Buchta said Big Island residents
are being squeezed out of neighborhoods
by out-of-state investors who
pay cash for properties and turn
them into vacation rentals. Making
a presentation at the request of Hilo
Councilwoman Sue Lee Loy, Buchta
said the easy profits made by shortterm
vacation rentals reduces the
inventory of housing available for
local families who can’t find longterm
rentals and can’t pay cash to
buy a home.
Buchta said the original concept
of “home-sharing,” where people
BY NANCY COOK LAUER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com
A cyclist rides past a vacation rental on Alii Drive.
LAURA RUMINKSI, FILE/WEST HAWAII TODAY
KAILUA-KONA —
Speed is likely to have
been a factor in a threecar
crash Monday night
on Queen Kaahumanu
Highway that left a
Holualoa woman dead,
authorities said Tuesday.
The collision occurred
Monday evening at mile
marker 83, about one
mile south of the Kiholo
Bay Lookout. At approximately
10:39 p.m., Hawaii
Police Department officers
responded to the scene,
where they encountered
three vehicles involved in
a crash.
Police say a 21-yearold
Kailua-Kona man
traveling south in a
2002 Volvo sedan was
involved in a rear-end
collision with a 41-yearold
Holualoa woman also
traveling south in a 2014
Volkswagen sedan.
Police say the collision
KAILUA-KONA — The dust won’t
settle on the old Keauhou Beach Hotel
demolition until the end of the calendar
year but the project continues to
outpace its original timeline, currently
operating two to three weeks ahead
of schedule.
Kaimana Barcarse, Kamehameha
Schools West Hawaii regional
director, said construction crews had
pulled down more than two-thirds
of the hotel as of Tuesday, including
the mauka section nearest Alii Drive
and the parts of the structure located
either in the ocean or over it.
“The only portion currently standing
is the center of the building where
the old elevator shaft is located. Work
on dismantling the remaining exterior
hotel structure will be completed
this month,” he added. “Demolition
final clean-up and restoration will
follow, completing the hotel structural
related demolition scope of work
by June 2018.”
Crews are processing the concrete
accumulated from the demolition
on-site and recycling it for use as
general fill, pavement aggregate or
possibly for drainage improvement.
Barcarse said the next phase will
entail ground stabilization and civil
BY MAX DIBLE
WEST HAWAII TODAY
mdible@westhawaiitoday.com
DEMOLITION AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
SEE CRASH PAGE 8A
SEE RENTALS PAGE 8A
Construction crews had pulled down more
than two-thirds of the Keauhou Beach Hotel
as of Tuesday. CHELSEA JENSEN/WEST HAWAII TODAY SEE HOTEL PAGE 7A
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