KAILUA-KONA, HI – The weeklong workshop to apply key components of the award-winning Kona Community Development Plan (CDP) to the Honokohau Village site ended in a Tuesday night presentation at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort. But already the week’s efforts were earning endorsements from many folks, including those with the tasks of taking the plans forward.

Mayor Kenoi met with the PlaceMakers team Tuesday morning.

Members of the PlaceMakers consulting team met on Tuesday morning with Mayor Billy Kenoi, who repeated his support for the project. And earlier, community members were enthusiastic about previews of the final product.

Tuesday night, more than 50 people attended the PlaceMakers presentation. Key elements of the overall plan are explained by PlaceMakers planner Geoff Dyer in the video below. (Note: If you don’t have the capacity to download videos, don’t worry. Details of the week’s proceedings are covered in text and still images augmented by the videos.)

[Story continues below video]

Immediately below are images taken from the presentation. And below the images are videos of reactions from attendees.

Watch these pages for updates of the Honokohau Village Process over the coming weeks.

ABOVE: This regulating plan serves as the "zoning" for the property, in accordance with the Village Design Guidelines. However, it differs from conventional zoning in that it places a higher focus on form, character and intensity, and then mixes uses accordingly. Click image for larger view.

ABOVE: The illustrative plan demonstrates how, in accordance with the regulating plan, the property might build out. Click image for larger view.

ABOVE: Various architectural techniques can be employed to maintain a coherent streetscape while addressing the site's sloping condition. Click image for larger view.

ABOVE: Honokohau Village's civic building at the heart of the community, which would likely also serve as the primary transit stop. Click image for larger view.

ABOVE: A primarily residential street scene, featuring the integration of multiple product types. Click image for larger view.

ABOVE: Addressing sloping grade through alleyways and tuck-under parking. Click image for larger view.

ABOVE: Addressing the sloping grade through this bungalow court, small homes sharing a central pedestrian greenway and featuring rear-access parking. Click image for larger view.

KAILUA-KONA, HI – A solid core of Kona charrette participants have watched plans evolve over the last week. On Monday night, they got a quick preview of key components of the plan that will be presented at the Tuesday-night, 6:30pm, final.

Questions are coming from two directions. First, those who’ve been associated with the Kona Community Development Plan (CDP) are understandably protective of community goals imbedded in the CDP. For them, enabling a walkable, sustainable, mixed-use model worthy of replication throughout Kona is priority No. 1. To get a sense of the overall goals of the project, see the BIG PICTURE story immediately to the right.

Coming from another angle are developers who have to be convinced of two things – that this new way of developing will serve their business plans and that the County is serious about creating this opportunity and enforcing the regulations that will make it work. See Honokohau Village property owner and developer Bob McClean discuss his perspective at the tail end of our “Village Plan Takes Shape” post.

Those who attend the final presentation on Tuesday night will get the full perspective on how these goals might be achieved. The presentation begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Keauhou I Room at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort. For directions, go to the location tab in the toolbar above.

If you can’t be there in person, watch these web page for a complete report on Wednesday.

KAILUA-KONA, HI – Even with only a little of the vertical construction for the new West Hawaii Civic Center rising from the site for the proposed Honokohau Village, the appeal of the place is evident. So are the challenges.

“The site goes mauka to makai,” said Susan Henderson, design director for the PlaceMakers consulting team. “And there are going to be significant slope issues. So we have to integrate in a very meaningful way access to the neighborhood amenities and transit . . while being mindful of the topography.”

Henderson and other members of the project team, including County planning manager Bobby Jean Leithead Todd and land owner/developer Bob McClean, visited the Honokohau Village site Saturday morning to get a feel for the design opportunities. You can see Susan Henderson’s introductory video tour below or just continue reading for the broader perspective. (Note: For those without the capacity to view videos from these pages, we’ll always deliver the core information from the video in text; so you won’t be missing out on anything.)

The Village site comprises 80 acres, with sections owned by the County, by McClean Honokohau Properties, and by the Department of Hawaiian Homes Land. With all the land owners invited to participate in this week’s charrette, the weeklong public workshop offers an ideal opportunity for the project team to demonstrate how the Kona Community Development Plan (CDP) can be applied to a real place.

By the charrette’s final presentation on Tuesday night, Oct. 27, the team will have drafted a demonstration master plan that should accomplish the two goals of the week: To create a master plan for a CDP-compliant Transportation Oriented-Develolpment (TOD) and to provide a training opportunity for County planners, development teams, and community residents. For an overview of those goals, see the BIG PICTURE story immediately to the right of this column.

There are plenty of opportunities to participate in the charrette in person between now and Tuesday night. Check out the day-by-day schedule, as well as location and directions information for all events leading into the final presentation. For a guide to when to attend if you have limited time, check out our “Interested But Time Strapped” post.

If you can’t be at the charrette in person, you can follow everything on these web pages, which will be updated daily through Tuesday evening’s closing presentation and then thereafter once the team’s finalized recommendations are delivered. And please send us comments or questions by using the format at the bottom of this – and all other – posts.

KAILUA-KONA, HI — As the community and the project team began the weeklong workshop to plan Honokohau Village, revered elders reminded everyone of principles embedded deeply into Hawaiian tradition:

Respect for the land and what it demands of those who are its stewards, for the wisdom of those who’ve come before, and for one another.

Mahealani Pai delivered the noontime blessing, reminding those in attendance of the traditions that can help guide participants in the week’s “charrette”. Aunty Elizabeth echoed those sentiments later. “To share with love from your heart brings truth,” she said. And Wally Lau underlined the lessons learned from thousands of years:

When people recognize all the ways in which we are connected with one another and with all of nature, there can be harmony and balance in human affairs. When there are disconnects, issues arise, obscuring the way forward.

We are all on this journey (wa’a) together, Lau told the opening day group. If we keep our vision and hold steady, we’ll arrive at our intended destination. Working together (laulima) is essential to this journey.

Click one of the following photos to initiate a slideshow from the day, or continue reading below.

The appeal to the wisdom of the past was a perfect way to begin a workshop designed to be an intense collaboration between the community, the County, and the PlaceMakers consultants hired to help apply community goals reflected in the Kona Community Development Plan (CDP). For an overview of project objectives, check out the BIG PICTURE post directly to the right of this column. And to drill down more deeply into the ideas behind the weeklong progress, go to the FAQ section.

The working sessions of the opening day featured discussions on what are considered signature components of Kona’s character and how those much-admired elements can be reflected in Village Design Guidelines for Honokohau Village. Everyone is invited to weigh in on the discussion, from residents and local business people to the real estate development professionals who’ll have to develop strategies for delivering what the community wants while minding their own bottom lines. You’ll hear more about those challenges as the week goes on.

The final event of the evening, a Visual Preference Survey exercise in which people discussed design and construction approaches they preferred for Kona, was so enthusiastically received the session lasted an hour longer than scheduled. It’s a healthy indication of the collaborative spirit invoked by the kupuna earlier in the day. And it’s a good omen for days to come.

Check out the day-by-day charrette schedule for opportunities to participate. And if you’re trying to figure out how to best use limited free time to get involved, check out our advice in “Interested but Time-Strapped?”.

Don’t forget you can also follow each day’s events on these website pages. You’re invited to comment in the section below each post. So you can participate in the charrette even when you can’t be on-site.

KAILUA-KONA, HI – County officials and staff and Kona community members, with help from an expert consulting team, begin a weeklong public workshop today to plan the first major project under the award-winning Kona Community Development Plan (CDP).

The project is called Honokonau Village. It will be a Transportation-Oriented Development (TOD) that will include the new West Hawai’i Civic Center. Here is an aerial view of the project area.

This particular workshop process is called a “charrette” and it thrives on participation. Here’s how you can be involved as much as you like:

All sessions are free, of course. And all will take place at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort, where there will be free parking throughout the week. Explore the day-by-day schedule on our Schedule page. And you can get tips on how to select the sessions you want to attend by going to our post below entitled “Interested but time-strapped? Here’s a guide to charrette sessions.”

To get a general overview of the project, read the BIG PICTURE story immediately to the right of this column. And to understand more about the hows and whys of charrettes, check out our FAQ section.

You don’t have to be present at every stage during the week to keep track of what’s going on or to comment on the process. This website will post updates, interviews, and images regularly during the week so you don’t have to miss anything no matter where you are and no matter when you want to check in. So turn to these web pages regularly.

Kona’s award-winning Community Development Plan (CDP) paves the way for new approaches to planning. The approach we’ll be talking about during the Honokohau Village charrette is Transit Oriented Development (TOD).

Need a quick briefing on what TOD is all about? Here’s a Q&A to orient you. For more Frequently Asked Questions about the charrette, see our FAQ page.

Question: Honokohau Village will be a Transit Oriented Development. What does that mean?

Answer: A Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is designed to increase choices for getting around – not only by car, but also by walking, bicycling, and transit.

Q: What’s the advantage in that?

A: When you expand transportation alternatives beyond just private automobile travel, you can invest more in providing the kinds of neighborhoods many people want. If people can get where they want to go by walking and riding bikes, for instance, that makes more customers available for shopping, dining, and entertainment and for commercial space in office buildings. If residents can live close to where they work and give up one or more family cars, that makes a community more affordable, as well. All of that boosts return on investment for developers. But it also means more effective use of taxpayers’ money.

Q: How so?

A: Because it creates opportunities for more compact development, that can mean more efficient use of infrastructure funding, fewer highway-scale thoroughfares, and less real estate reserved exclusively for parking.

Q: But Americans – including Hawaiians – love their cars. How are you going to get them to give up the independence of automobiles and suburbs in order to live more densely in these TOD neighborhoods?

A: No one has to give up anything. Let’s make it easy for the market to decide where and how people want to live. Studies show that there’s a much higher demand for housing in walkable, mixed-use communities then there is supply.

Q: How did that happen?

A: Relatively cheap gas and government infrastructure support for suburban development has made the suburban lifestyle the dominant one for decades. Now, there are plenty of alternatives for folks who want to live in the suburbs and commute everywhere by car. In fact, suburban developments were generally the hardest hit by foreclosures in the recent economic downturn; so for the immediate future, there will be even more suburban homes on the market for those who prefer that way of living.

Q: What will change that trend?

A: Consider first the still unmet demand for safe, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods – especially from two large demographic groups, Boomer empty nesters looking for low-maintenance comfort and young college grads just entering the job market committed to an engaging, vibrant lifestyle. Think about the declining resources of governments, which will force hard choices on where to invest in infrastructure. Then, factor in the likely increase in oil prices as the world economy ramps back up. Being wedded to automobiles as the only viable transportation option and to auto-centric sprawl as the sole model development pattern seems less wise all the time. By enabling TODs, we’re just expanding choices and letting the market decide.

If you only have limited time to participate in the charrette, when should you come?

Remember, first of all, that during the charrette, we’ll regularly post updates right here on the website. So you don’t have to miss anything. You can follow events as they unfold. And you can comment or post questions at the bottom of every story.

But how about making the tough choices of when to show up in person? Check out the schedule here. If you click on the image, it expands to give you a larger, more readable version of the day-by-day agenda. Now what are you most interested in?

Do you just want an overview of the finished product of the week’s work? Then come to the final presentation on Tuesday, October 27, at 6:30 p.m. The team will sum up their efforts and show illustrations of what streets and neighborhoods might look like if they were designed according to Village Design Guidelines in the Kona Community Development Plan (CDP).

But what if you want to participate? As we move through the week, ideas will be introduced, sorted and tested, revised, and ultimately worked into the plan presented on Tuesday evening, Oct. 27. So it would be ideal if you can drop by at least a couple times during the process to see how concepts are evolving.

If you have just one block of time to get involved, make it the opening presentation on Wednesday, October 21, at 6 p.m. You’ll get an introduction to the project and the chance to talk story about common goals for the week. If you have more time to invest, your next choices should be the “pin-up,” open house, and talk story opportunities on Saturday at 6 p.m. and Monday at 6:30 p.m. That’s when you can review work in progress, as project team designers integrate what they’re hearing from charrette participants with Kona CDP goals.

The sessions where participants provide lots of that input are the four public sessions on Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Here’s what to expect from those meetings:

• Kona CDP Action Committee VDG Customization: Technical Discussion. Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2-4 p.m. If you really want to dig deeply into the technical components of the Village Design Guidelines outlined in the Kona CDP, these two hours will give you the background you need. The discussion will be structured to educate the CDP Action Committee, plus developers, planners, and others who’ll want to understand how new design guidelines might affect them.
• Resource Management. Thursday, Oct. 22, 10:30 a.m. Topics will include both cultural and environmental resources, including the preservation of open space and agricultural opportunities, storm water management, cultural heritage sites, etc.
• Economic Development. Thursday, Oct. 22, 1-2:30 p.m. What are effects on business, from retail to real estate development, of new guidelines for development? Expect to discuss density issues, planning for mixed uses, big box formats, parking, store fronts, etc.
• Resource Management. Sunday, Oct. 25, 3-4:30 p.m. Another chance to address the issues covered in the Thursday session, only now with the advantage of two days of deliberations and design to advance the discussion.

In addition to these planned meetings, the charrette studio is open for drop-ins on Saturday, Sunday and Monday during times colored in beige and designated as “design” periods on the schedule.

All charrette activities are free, of course. Attendees are expected to make their own meal arrangements.

Parking is free at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort, where all charrette sessions will be held. Go here for more details and directions.

The hard work of defining long-term planning goals for Kona is done and embedded in the Kona Community Development Plan (Kona CDP) enacted into law in September of 2008. Now, Kona community leaders and residents will join with County of Hawai`i staff and consultants to apply key concepts in the award-winning CDP to the first major project to be designed under the Plan: The Honokohau Village.

The project, on a 40-acre site that includes the new West Hawai`i Civic Center, will be designed through a public “charrette” – a collaborative design workshop – held from October 21 through October 27 at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Hotel. Go here to see the complete schedule.

During the seven days, the project team in collaboration with the community, will customize the Kona CDP’s Village Design Guidelines and create a master plan for Honokohau Village.

The Village will be designed as a Transit Oriented Development (TOD), a category of compact, mixed-use development encouraged under the new CDP. A TOD maximizes the advantages of mobility choices so that people representing a wide range of ages, abilities, and incomes can share the advantages of living, working, and playing in the same community.

“The Honokohau Village TOD,” says Mayor Billy Kenoi, “will include government offices, stores, homes, apartments, parks, schools, roads, sidewalks or pedestrian walkways, bike paths, bus routes, cultural sites, and open green spaces. And just as we reached out to the broader community to develop the Kona CDP, we want to encourage the same kind of involvement for this charrette. Everyone’s invited to participate.”

What’s a Charrette?

The term comes from the French and translates roughly to “little cart.” Its origins are traced to an art school tradition from 19th century Paris when a cart was sent around to students’ studios to collect work to be graded by their professors. Like most students, these artists worked until the last minute, then ran alongside the charrette making finishing touches as the cart rumbled towards judgment.

The idea has been refined by modern design teams to indicate design on a fast track, planned in the presence of clients – with the active participation of those likely to be affected by the plan. Charrettes thrive on collaboration.

By involving everyone who can enable or block decisions and by committing to produce actionable plans within a set timeframe, charrettes can save months – even years – of tedious back-and-forth negotiations and redesign. They also provide an experience that’s increasingly rare. People get to participate in something organized especially to listen to their ideas and to act on them immediately.

In well-organized charrettes, designers test ideas almost as fast as participants come up with them; so there’s something immediate and tangible to react to. These feedback loops of drawing, reacting, re-drawing, and reacting some more are keys to making charrettes work. Of course, all this hashing out of alternatives in public is not always the way political bodies and private sector developers like to work. But the biggest risk connected with a charrette is not too much debate; it’s too much success.

A charrette raises expectations. It builds enthusiasm. It draws clear lines of accountability. Because everyone knows who made and agreed upon the plan, everyone knows who’s responsible if it goes sour.

When a developer or a government body chooses a charrette process, it means investing resources to assemble and support a team of experts through four to ten days of near round-the-clock work sessions and community discussions. It’s a leap of faith – in the community, in the design team, in the process itself. But the potential rewards are great.

In the long run, a charrette is a money-saver. Time is money, after all, whether you’re talking about debt service on a developer’s investment or staff time for a government agency. Community buy-in that grows during a charrette accelerates a project’s path to approval and jump-starts the marketing. People don’t have to be sold after-the-fact on ideas they helped shape.

The biggest and most unexpected bonus comes from the creative energy a charrette generates. It attracts people and ideas that almost always make the project better. It’s self-correcting. Bad ideas are tossed more quickly; good ones bubble to the surface more readily. So by the time participants assemble for the final presentation it’s clear that the whole has become greater than the sum of its parts.

The pay-off is not only in terms of time and money saved but in the pleasure of partnering with an entire community on a project everyone can be proud of.

For more info: www.charretteinstitute.com