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EPA Green Building pilot project in Anahola completes planning, site assessment and redevelopment master plan

Release Date: 3/11/2004
Contact Information: Dean Higuchi, (808) 541-2711

HONOLULU --The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced the completion of the first phase of planning for a green buildings project on a Brownfields site in Anahola, Kauai.

Using green building principles and strategies, community and agency stakeholders along with the consultants, Ferraro Choi and Belt Collins, developed the Anahola Homesteaders Council project's sustainable master plan. The project was accomplished with $15,000 in consultant services from the EPA.

"The successful completion of the redevelopment master plan is a major step in the process of making the Anahola Brownfields site into a thriving community center for the residents of Anahola," said Leo Kay, section chief of the EPA Pacific Southwest Region's Office of Planning and Public Affairs.

The plan for the site includes a senior care living and elderly independent living center, a Hawaiian charter school, retail and office space, and other support facilities.  

Some of the sustainable design elements of the master plan include:
-a "main street" town model that is pedestrian friendly with open spaces for reduced heat;
-native plants and trees for shading;
-water conservation and "living machines" for onsite wastewater treatment;
-renewable energy opportunities; and
-a design that is supportive of key community values, including opportunities for interactions among generations of area residents and cultural relevance.

The Brownfields redevelopment site is on former agricultural land in Anahola, Kauai, north of Lihue, on Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.  The site is currently littered with illegally disposed items such as, automobiles, tires, appliances, batteries, and other household goods.

Green buildings conserve energy, water and materials, and create healthy indoor and outdoor environments. This concept includes residential, commercial, institutional and industrial buildings and even major remodeling of existing buildings.  Brownfields are sites that have actual or perceived contamination and an active potential for redevelopment or reuse.

The cooperative partners involved in the pilot project include the EPA; the Hawai'i Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism; the Hawai'i Department of Health; the Department of Hawaiian Homelands; the Anahola Homesteaders Council; the County of Kauai; and the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

For more information, see the EPA's green buildings web page at: https://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding. For the EPA's Brownfields program, see: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields .

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