Lava consumed Ahalanui Beach
Park on Wednesday evening,
destroying yet another beloved Puna
destination.
The park, commonly known as
“Warm Pond,” was buried by lava
late Wednesday evening, shortly
before Kua O Ka La Public Charter
School on Highway 137 likewise was
destroyed.
The park’s destruction follows the
loss of the Kapoho tide pools and
“Champagne Ponds,” both popular
oceanside destinations that were
lost when lava filled Kapoho Bay in
early June.
“It’s a big loss for the whole island,”
said Hawaii County Managing
Director Will Okabe. “These were
pristine spots that can never be
replaced.”
HALF OF STRUCTURES ARE WORLD WAR IIERA QUONSET HUTS USED TO HOUSE SOLDIERS
Soldiers training at PTA stay in Quonset huts. The U.S. Army is looking to modernize a small portion of the
134,000-acre training area by replacing aging buildings within PTA’s cantonment area to “improve personnel
safety and quality of life,” as well as to meet current building criteria and comply with anti-terrorism standards.
Just over half the 123 structures to be replaced are the World War II-era Quonset huts still used as barracks. LAURA
RUMINSKI/WEST HAWAII TODAY
KAILUA-KONA — Changes
are planned at Pohakuloa Training
Area as the U.S. Army moves forward
with a $210 million overhaul.
The Army is looking to modernize
a small portion of the
134,000-acre training space situated
between Mauna Loa and
Maunakea by replacing aging
buildings within PTA’s cantonment
area to “improve personnel
safety and quality of life,” as well
as to meet current building criteria
and comply with anti-terrorism
standards.
The phased project, which
depends on funding availability,
comprises demolishing and
replacing 123 of the 145 current
single-story buildings. The structures
are located within 80 acres on
the northeastern side of PTA’s cantonment
area, a portion of which
abuts Daniel K. Inouye Highway
near the garrison entrance.
Though there’s a hefty price tag
attached and years of construction
involved, Army officials stressed
that only existing structures will
be replaced and that no new buildings
are proposed. Building capacity
and heights would go largely
unchanged and PTA would continue
to accommodate a maximum of
2,300 soldiers.
“We’re not making a super-Pohakuloa
Training Area,” said Lt.
Col. Loreto V. Borce Jr., PTA
commander.
Kim
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VOL. 50, NO. 194 18 PAGES
KILAUEA ERUPTION
ARMY PROPOSES REPLACING 123 DETERIORATING
BUILDINGS AT POHAKULOA TRAINING AREA
BY CHELSEA JENSEN
WEST HAWAII TODAY
cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com
Lt. Col. Eric Shwedo, a former Pohakuloa Training
Area commander, walks through quonset huts
in 2014 that troops use when training at the
SEE UPGRADES PAGE 7A installation. FILE PHOTO/WEST HAWAII TODAY
Kim wants out
of lost land deal
COUNTY AWAITS STATE
DECISION ON $2.7M OPEN
SPACE PURCHASE
BY NANCY COOK LAUER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com
HILO — The county’s purchase of a
$2.7 million Vacationland parcel from a
politically connected family is ongoing,
even after the land was made worthless
by lava inundation.
While Mayor Harry Kim says the
county should back
out of the deal, he said
the county had already
agreed to the purchase
and it’s up to the state to
make its determination.
The county had signed
a contract making its
purchase contingent on
a state grant, a county
attorney said.
Kim said the county had decided to
buy the property because it would have
provided ocean access, but now there’s
300 to 400 yards of lava, which by law
belongs to the state, between the property
and the ocean.
“The whole purpose of purchasing it
is gone,” Kim said Thursday. “I’m not
interested in paying good money for
that. … The state may come to the same
conclusion.”
The purchase was intended to create
a buffer between Vacationland development
and tide pools as well as provide
public access to the ocean. The
property includes what were previously
the Waiopae tide pools before lava consumed
them last month.
Kim, who owns a lot adjacent to the
property, wasn’t the mayor when the
County Council voted to buy it in 2013.
Kim lost his vacation home to lava in
early June.
The Hawaii County Council unanimously
passed a resolution in December
2013, authorizing the purchase of the
property that was ranked seventh on the
priority list by the county Public Access,
Open Space and Natural Resources
Commission. The state Board of Land
and Natural Resources subsequently
SEE LAND PAGE 8A
LEARNING LOST
DESTRUCTION OF
KUA O KA LA
‘UTTERLY DEVASTATING’
BY STEPHANIE SALMONS
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD
HILO — The loss of lower
Puna’s Kua O Ka La Public
Charter School is “utterly devastating,
both personally and for
our community,” Susie Osborne,
head of school, said Thursday,
a day after the school was
destroyed by lava.
SEE LOST PAGE 9A
Requiem for Warm Pond
LAVA CLAIMS AHALANUI BEACH;
ISAAC HALE’S FATE UNCERTAIN
BY MICHAEL BRESTOVANSKY
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD
In this aerial view looking to the north, a robust
ocean entry plume rises just offshore of Ahalanui
Beach Park, which was inundated with lava on
Wednesday. US GEOLOGICAL SERVICE/COURTESY PHOTO SEE LAVA PAGE 8A
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