MEDIA RELEASE

Three important-to-Waimea projects will top Waimea Community Association’s Town Meeting agenda at 5:15 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5 in Waimea School cafeteria.

As always, the entire community is invited and there is no charge.

Projects include:

* Keoki Magoon’s long planned Greenwood Center, which will soon begin construction on vacant land across Mamalahoa Highway from Waimea schools.

Recent road improvements in the area have been completed by the developer as required and include tying together pedestrian-friendly public sidewalks from the adjacent Carter Professional Center to improvements near the main intersection.

This project has been in planning for a number of years and both the property owner and architect have worked closely with Waimea Community Association’s Planning and Design Review Committee to address community design elements including visual and landscape plans.

Greenwood Center is designed to become a small retail center that uses a “main street concept” to create a sense of place that provides a more appropriate architectural composition sensitive to the local and traditional townscape of Waimea.

* Ouli Park

Next on the agenda – and longer term in nature – will be a presentation to secure community input on a proposal to develop a management plan for a small 8-acre linear nature park, tentatively called Ouli Park, though for many, still nicknamed Clark Park because the land was donated to the community by the Clark family.

The project is a collaboration of People’s Advocacy For Trails Hawaii (PATH), Waimea Trails and Greenways and Ka Ahahui o Ka Nahelehele, a native dryland forest advocacy not-for-profit.

Nahelehele has secured two small grants including one from the Richard Smart Fund, to develop a management plan and possibly begin park development.

Ouli Park is envisioned is a passive park that could serve as the western terminus for the Waimea Trails and Greenways. The park project’s goals include creating a showcase of native trees, plants and shrubs that are present or previously existed in the area, as well as a demonstration of best management practices of watershed as Keanuiomano Stream spans the length of the 8-acre parcel.

There are many issues to be addressed including safe vehicle access to the site, archaeological features, safety concerns, boundary delineation (the park boundary is the center line of the stream), wildfire, etc.

Presenting the project will be Waimea environmental planner Mike Donoho with Kukui Planning. Donoho has already begun going door-to-door in the nearby Kamuela View Estates subdivision to seek input from neighbors, and has also met with County planners and rancher Freddy Rice who holds the lease on adjoining property.

* Liquid Robotics

The Kawaihae and Sunnyvale, Calif.-based ocean data services provider and developer of the Wave Glider, the world’s first wave powered, autonomous marine robot designed to help address some of the biggest challenges the world faces, including global climate change, hurricane and tsunami warning, and offshore energy and resource management.

Because of their energy independence, Wave Gliders are able to persistently gather and communicate ocean data on a far broader scale and with greater timeliness than ever before, at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.

They open up new abilities to conduct groundbreaking scientific research, map and explore for resources and protect marine assets.

First introduced in 2009, Wave Gliders have since traveled more than 350,000 nautical miles and have set a world record for longest distance traveled by an autonomous surface vehicle. Liquid Robotics has received numerous international awards for their pioneering achievements in energy harvesting ocean robots.

From the Arctic to the equator, Wave Gliders are expanding understanding of the world’s oceans, upon which we are dependent for the health of our environment, food, trade and economics.

Liquid Robotics local outreach and community collaborations are centered on malama aina, or caring for the land as stewards, and include local public and private schools, the University of Hawaii, Kailapa Community Association, South Kohala Conservation Action Plan and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among others.

As with all WCA Town Meetings, Starbucks will provide coffee. To support our local Food Pantry, in addition to cash and checks (receipts always available), WCA accepts donations of KTA Sav-a-Tapes and Foodland Maikai Rewards and any extra produce that may be shared including citrus, greens and avocados.

If you cannot make the WCA meeting, take your donation to the Annunciation Church office during business hours.

For information, call WCA President Sherman Warner (885-1725) or visit: www.WaimeaTown.org