PAT GEE / 2007
Pointsetta and miniature Christmas trees decorate a grave marker at Hawaiian Memorial Park in Kaneohe. Nearly a decade ago, HMP had its expansion proposal rejected — and this time around, has unveiled an improved plan for its 164.4-acre parcel that addresses earlier concerns.
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Sometimes, it’s easy to oppose a proposed project due to a developer’s overreach, whether it be obtrusive height requests, obnoxious densities or dramatic incompatibility with surrounding land usage.
None of these seem to apply to Hawaiian Memorial Park’s proposed 28-acre expansion of its Kaneohe cemetery that would add 30,000 burial sites to its current 80-acre operation, which is about 6 percent away from hitting its 41,000 burials capacity.
Nearly a decade ago, Hawaiian Memorial Park (HMP) had its expansion proposal rejected — and this time around, has unveiled an improved plan for its 164.4-acre parcel that addresses earlier concerns. That includes achieving a change to the city’s Koolau Poko Sustainable Communities Plan, which now allows this urban use.
HMP is asking the state Land Use Commission to reclassify 53.5 acres from conservation to urban use and create a 14.5-acre cultural preserve northeast of the cemetery expansion area; another 130 acres at minimum would be placed under a conservation easement to restrict any future development. Mausoleum structures that once had been part of the plan are no longer proposed, which should be one less point of objection.
Given the project site’s slope, concerns over flooding and likely traffic uptick, HMP’s mitigations as outlined in its environmental impact study bear scrutiny. Residents, such as in the neighboring subdivision, might well harbor lingering concerns — but overall, this improved project seems to have made the necessary adjustments.