Yearly Archives: 2015

UPDATE, July, 2017 - SAVED:  Nonprofits, government, community members and the private sector worked together successfully to purchase and forever protect this, one of Honolulu’s last natural springs to still provide fresh, clean water to the shore. Once overgrown, dark, and murky - Kānewai Spring and the surrounding land are now brimming with life thanks to seven years of hard work by the Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center and hundreds of volunteers. And now, the site is permanently protected and owned/stewarded by the community via nonprofit Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center. The conservation funding which saved the spring is described in a Trust for Public Land (TPL) press release from July, 2017: “To fund the conservation purchase, the State Department of Land & Natural Resources Legacy Land Conservation Program granted $1.3 million. The City and County of Honolulu Clean Water and Natural Lands Program (TPL) contributed an additional $1 million, providing the Trust for Public Land with the $2.3 million needed to purchase and preserve the property in perpetuity. Local foundations and donors raised $350,000 to cover costs for the real estate transaction and expenses for land management. The land is now permanently protected through a conservation easement with binding restrictions that will be monitored and enforced by the City and area nonprofit Livable Hawai‘i Kai Hui."   Threatened - 2015 Photography: Courtesy of John Johnson Article Written By: Katrina Valcourt, HONOLULU Magazine What is it? Prior to Henry J. Kaiser’s development of Hawai‘i Kai, the area boasted one of the largest fishponds on O‘ahu. Now, only a few fishponds remain on the East Side, including the Kanewai Fishpond, which is fed by a freshwater spring that ancient Hawaiians relied on when they lived in the caves above. The fishpond is connected to [...]

UPDATE: November, 2018 Public Meeting on Redevelopment of the Board of Water Supply Complex Set for Thursday, November 8, 2018 The Board of Water Supply will be issuing a Request for Proposal to redevelop a portion of its Beretania Complex. A presentation and public meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 8. The Complex is home to three historically-significant buildings.  The current Request for Proposal includes the adjacent parking lots, but not the historic buildings. A previous proposal (2013) would have allowed demolition of the Hart Wood-designed administration building, which lead Historic Hawai‘i Foundation to list it as one of the Most Endangered Historic Properties in Hawai‘i. The Board of Water Supply then withdrew the prior concept to “regroup.” The current proposal appears to avoid the sensitive sites. UPDATE: 2015 Article Written By: Katrina Valcourt The Board of Water Supply withdrew its request for proposal to develop the land after all interested developers backed out. “We’re regrouping,” says Ernest Lau, manager and chief engineer of BWS. “We intend to rethink the process and go out with another RFP in the next couple of years, but probably not to touch any of the existing buildings. I think people have a lot of emotional connection to the architect who designed some of these buildings (Hart Wood).” BWS will instead focus on infrastructure upgrades and becoming accessible. Lau says they are also considering resubdividing the land into more developable parcels, or rezoning the site to give developers more flexibility. Listed as Endangered in: 2013 Article Written By: Victoria Wiseman, HONOLULU Magazine What is it? Fronting Beretania Street, the Honolulu Board of Water Supply was designed by architect Hart Wood, founder of the Hawaii Regional Movement. Created at the end of his career and life, the Pumping Station was built in 1917, the Engineering Building built in 1938, and the Administration [...]