Home Care In Ewa Beach, HI

1 / 4

Related Photo Gallery: Redevelopment to begin on Varona Village

Across the street from a green, shaded bus stop along Renton Road in Ewa Beach, 24 acres of aging one-story homes in Varona Village await renewal.

The Ewa plain community — once filled with 93 homes rented by employees of the long-defunct Oahu Sugar’s Ewa Plantation — is being redeveloped by the city in partnership with the Savio Group of Companies and Hawaii Habitat for Humanity Association.

The developer, now called Savio/Hawaii Habitat Varona Village LLC, says it’s working with the city to fulfill a plan nearly 30 years in the making: to provide the Varona Village tenants of record, their families and current Varona Village residents the opportunity to own the homes they live in.

That plan includes new 100% “affordable” housing lots, which will be made available to the community for purchase, with first priority given to Varona Village members, current and former, then to the local community at large, according to the developer.

“Many of these tenants and their families, with connections to Ewa Plantation, poured their blood, sweat and tears into this unique plantation-style community, and we are proud to be able to finally make homeownership a reality for so many,” Mayor Rick Blangiardi said during a Tuesday news conference in the neighborhood. “This is a truly special place deserving of preservation and proper care.”

Others also spoke to the “promise” to redevelop Varona Village, largely consisting of homes built in the early 20th century, prior to 1940.

Don't miss out on what's happening!

Stay in touch with top news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. Best of all, it's FREE to sign up!

By clicking submit, you agree to Star-Advertiser's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

“So the promise that you keep hearing about is that in 1995 the city took some actions to put this on the Historic Register — last of the Ewa Villages — (with) the intent of transferring the properties to the tenants of record,” Chris Hong, the developer’s project manager, said at the news conference.

Toward that effort, Hong noted, the current project will be broken into two phases.

The first phase will see the renovation or repair of 35 to 40 existing homes to meet minimum health and safety codes for the tenants of record, their families or current occupants. Phase two will be the construction of up to 88 new affordable residential homes, mainly condominiums, as well as one community center, he said.

In addition, the city will work to bring new sewage lines — as most existing homes within the Varona Village community are connected to old septic tank systems — and other roadway and infrastructure improvements to adjacent Renton Road.

“Now we’re at a point where we have a development agreement that was agreed upon,” said Hong, “and we’re closing in on the agreement of sale so that we can fulfill that promise and make the tenants of record homeowners within this property.”

He added as soon the condominium property regime, or CPR, approval process is done, “we’re going to sell the lots as is … to the tenants of record.”

Hong could not give pricing for the proposed for-sale properties. And Hong said he did not know how many original tenants of record — many of whom are in their 90s — remained.

But Hong did say Varona’s tenants of record, including spouses, family members and descendants of sugar plantation workers, would see lots for sale priced at about $100,000.

According to the developer, the tenants of record “can buy the home they occupy or if (a) vacant lot is desired, priority will be based on years of service at Ewa Plantation/Oahu Sugar Company.”

Hong said the timeline to see this project built could occur by early 2025, to be sold off “to the tenants of the record.”

“So as soon as we close on the agreement of sale, then we’ll start with the CPR process,” he said. “And at the same time, knowing that it takes time to financially qualify some of these families, we will be working with lenders to make sure they have financing, and that will be working in parallel with us to do the condominium process.”

In past years the effort to rejuvenate Varona Village, as well as neighboring Ewa Village communities, stalled several times.

As the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported in October 2020, the original plan, dating back to the early 1980s, involved the city buying 676 homes on 243 acres Campbell Estate leased to Amfac-owned Oahu Sugar. City officials anticipated carrying out the plan in phases over six to eight years, and said affordable sale prices would cover city costs.

An initial phase was completed on Fernandez Village, where 229 homes were improved and sold for $1 plus $5 per square foot of land.

Under then-Mayor Frank Fasi in 1991, a more ambitious “Ewa Villages” master plan was finalized and involved acquiring about 600 acres to preserve Ewa Plantation villages and create new affordable and market-price housing communities along with parks and a municipal golf course to alleviate flooding.

However, village preservation got scaled back to cover only three of the seven untouched plantation communities. To be preserved were Renton, Tenny and Varona Villages, while Mill, Middle, Lower and C villages were razed.

The city completed its purchase in 1992, and home sale prices for plantation workers were estimated at $45,000 to $55,000 without improvements and $110,000 to $130,000 renovated.

Work on all three villages was projected to be done by 1998 under what was being hailed as a national model.

Homes sales began in 1995 at Renton and Tenny villages during the administration of Mayor Jeremy Harris, in which a scandal erupted with city housing official Michael Kahapea convicted of leading a scam to steal $5.6 million from the project.

Work was completed at Renton, also known as Haole Camp, and at Tenny, otherwise known as Japanese Camp, along with Ewa Villages Golf Course, parks and new residential communities.

Yet Varona, also known as Filipino Camp and Banana Camp, got sidestepped as some city officials pushed for demolition because homes were too run down.

And, according to the city, redevelopment efforts for Ewa Villages were nearly complete — except for Varona Village — when the city Department of Housing and Community Development dissolved in 1998.

It wasn’t until 2013, when the City Council convened a Varona Village Working Group, that efforts to rekindle this redevelopment project occurred. The group’s recommendations culminated in a 2017 solicitation seeking a redevelopment partner, the city said.

At Tuesday’s news conference, Blangiardi said completing the Varona Village project was important to his own administration.

“This was 2-1/2 years in the making since we got into office,” the mayor said. “We looked around and said, ‘What are some of the projects that are viable, that should have happened but didn’t happen, and what can we do about it?’ And Varona Village was right at the top of that list.”

———

Star-Advertiser staff writer Andrew Gomes contributed to this report.

The Punt Wine Provisions has more than 100 wines and an all-local beer selection.

June 15, 2023

The Punt Wine Provisions is not a shop you come across by accident, unless you’re in Ho‘opili and happen upon a sandwich board sign at the end of Maunakapu Street, an area as yet unmapped by Google Street View. The wine shop takes up just 126 square feet on the ground floor of a mixed-use residential unit—and it’s worth a visit for its ever-changing selection and the expertise provided by owner Morgan Scott.

You can see pretty much everything the moment you enter, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have an easy time finding what you want. “I really felt like the West Side needed a shop like this,” Scott says, noting that ‘Ewa Pantry is about 15 minutes away. She estimates she’s tasted about 95% of the bottles, making each the personal selection of a wine industry veteran. With that in mind, the more than 100 bottles—mainly wines that Costco and Foodland don’t carry—can seem overwhelming if you don’t know where to start.

Lucky for us, Scott is a self-proclaimed wine nerd who loves to help customers find their perfect match, whether by writing tasting notes on the backs of price tags or simply asking, “What’s for dinner tonight?” She aims to spotlight smaller producers, family-run businesses, biodynamic wines, female producers and wines imbued with a sense of place. And though she wants to expose people to wines they don’t know, there are a few more recognizable brands—even cans of Dark Horse. She’s a nerd, not a snob.

About 85% of The Punt’s bottles can be considered everyday wines, Scott says, the most expensive of which is $35. A $13 bottle of Domaine de Pellehaut Harmonie de Gascogne is one of her favorites. “I have a vivid memory of the first time I tried it”—she has personal stories as well as deep industry knowledge to share whenever I ask about a bottle—so she’ll always carry it, even as she brings in new inventory weekly.

I buy one, along with two reds—a German that uses Pinot Meunier grapes, which is what Champagne is made from, and a Spanish that she thinks I’ll like based on tasting notes of chocolate and coffee. I have a hard time not buying more when she describes a New Zealand rosé as a “porch pounder,” explains how a particular Italian wine is aged in concrete, and points to some bottles with wax caps, a process she’s literally scarred from. The most expensive bottle is a $189 Champagne, a blend of 21 vintages.

Scott got into wine in the Finger Lakes region of New York, where her husband was attending graduate school at Cornell. Her first day in Ithaca, she interviewed at a winery and ended up doing every job she could—managing the tasting room as well as working the harvests. There’s something romantic, she tells me, about getting dirty and tired but “making this thing that I loved and knowing that people would buy it one day.”

She and her husband, an architect who designed The Punt’s logo and handles its social media, came to Hawai‘i in 2019. “It took me a year to get my liquor license. It was a long, long road,” says Scott. She had to make her case to the Honolulu Liquor Commission, which had never approved a wine shop that was technically part of a home. (She and her family live upstairs, which has a separate entrance.) The grand opening was in March. For now, The Punt is a retail shop, not a bar, though Scott hopes to occasionally offer samples with a temporary license for tastings.

In this area of West O‘ahu, where Local Joe opened in May and Sage Creamery and Village Bottle Shop are opening this year, Scott is excited about collaborating with other local businesses to bring more folks in. She invited Sage Creamery to sell ice cream out of its truck in front of her wine shop recently. This Saturday, June 17, Pop Box, which sells pooch-friendly popsicles, will do the same from noon to 4 p.m. She’s hoping to work with Aloha Boat Charters to get some of her wines as add-ons to charter packages.

SEE ALSO: In Wahiaw?, Hawaiian Vinegar Co. Makes Local Shrubs and Mocktails

In addition to wine, The Punt carries a selection of all-local beer from Hana Koa Brewing Co., Aloha Beer Co., Kalihi Beer (formerly Broken Boundary), and even Beer Lab, which cans its Omakase for retail sale. You’ll also find shrub from Hawaiian Vinegar Co. and nonalcoholic seltzers from Lucid Lush, a local company founded by ‘Ewa Beach’s Kamryn Marchant in 2022.

In the corner under some local artwork, a cart holds a few “Wines of the Moment.” Each one is a chance to talk about what makes it so interesting. “This section in particular makes my nerdy little soul happy,” Scott says. Even if you don’t know much about wine—or maybe especially if you don’t know much about wine—it’s worth it to ask, if only for the story.

Photo: Katrina Valcourt

91-960 Iwikuamo‘o St. #308 (entrance on Maunakapu Street), ‘Ewa Beach. Open from 1 to 7 p.m. every day except Tuesday; opens at noon on Saturday. thepuntwine.com, @thepuntwine

EWA BEACH, Hawaii (KHON2) — It has been about 14 months since State crews paved a section of Fort Weaver Road with a mix of asphalt and plastic.

Get news on the go with KHON 2GO, KHON’s morning podcast, every morning at 8

KHON2 wanted to know how the new road is faring after the recent rain caused potholes around the island.

State Rep. David Alcos III lives on Fort Weaver Road, right along where the new road was paved in October, 2022.

“It feels smoother than the regular road,” Rep. Alcos III said. “Seems like the plastics holding it together, making it even much more smoother, like some of the other pavements. If you look, you can see the bumps inside of it. Right now this one, it feels like you can ride a skateboard.”

Transportation officials said most Hawaii roads have been paved with Polymer Mixed Asphalt (PMA) since 2015. A section of Fort Weaver Road has a mixture of PMA and plastic and did not show signs of wear after recent rain.

“No potholes in this area. And we didn’t expect any. Are, when we start combining our neat mix, our normal mix for, with plastic it’s a better binder for everything. We know PMA works really, really well and we know that PMA with plastic is going to work even better,” Hawaii Department of Transportation director Ed Sniffen said.

Sniffen added that testing for microplastics showed no increased leaching.

“One is they submerge it and they they check to see it in a vacuum to see if any of that microplastic leaches out. So they test the water to see any leaching that occurs. And so far, none,” Sniffen said.

Testing for erosion is also looking good, Rep. Alcos III hopes it holds up.

“We had some rain. Right now there’s no cracks or any gouges in the road. The road looks really smooth so far. We’ve got to check it out in five years, ten years and see how it comes out,” Rep. Alcos III said.

Plastic from the mainland was used for the Fort Weaver project, but officials said they are looking at using recycled material straight from Hawaii in local projects — no pun intended — down the road.

“It’s huge! I mean, it’ll be huge,” Sniffen said. “All the plastics that we use right now, if we can turn them into road materials, humongous. We get all of that stuff out of our out of our landfills, out of our out of our H-POWER burning and get it right into our roadways.”

Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news

“I see this expanding to more than just pavements,” Sniffen said. “If we can expand this to other industries that provide a better material with waste products that we utilize and get out of our landfills, would be tremendous.”

Acting Governor Sylvia Luke addressed the devastation of recent wildfires on Maui on Wednesday morning, saying officials and residents alike were caught off guard by this deadly consequence of Hurricane Dora.

"When we are preparing for the hurricane, we expect rain. Sometimes we expect floods. We never anticipated in this state that a hurricane, which did not make impact on our islands, will cause this type of wildfires," Luke said.

Hurricane Dora missed the islands by hundreds of miles. But experts say that's still close enough for a storm system to pose serious risks of wildfires.

Hawai?i County seeks public comment on restoring infrastructure after K?lauea eruption

"There is a relationship that we need to understand better," said Clay Trauernicht, an associate specialist in Wildland Fire Science and Management at the University of Hawai?i at M?noa.

He and his colleagues started looking into therelationship between hurricanes and wildfires in 2018 after fires started on Maui and O?ahu during Hurricane Lane.

Rains from hurricanes can temporarily reduce the risk of wildfires. But when strong storm systems pass by without making landfall, he said they suck moisture out of the air.

That drop in humidity can dry out the landscape, making it more prone to wildfires.

"The drier the air condition, the drier those dead fuels, all the dead grasses and branches and leaves, [become]," said Trauernicht, "And the more explosive and ferocious they burn."

High hurricane winds also increase the risk of wildfires spreading out of control.

Trauernicht said that if a fire starts during hurricane conditions, it can be much harder for first responders to contain.

"And the sort of scenario we're seeing right now in L?hain? is like the worst thing we could imagine," said Trauernicht.

For additional coverage on the Maui and Hawai?i Island wildfires, see below:

HONOLULU, HAWAII (KITV4) -- The Hawaiian Humane Society gave a tour to KITV4 before the grand opening of the long-awaited location in West O?ahu. The opening of the Kosasa Family Campus at Ho?opili will be on Saturday, May 20, 2023, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at 91-1945 Fort Weaver Road in ?Ewa Beach.

This event is the culmination of more than a decade of research, planning, fundraising and construction, which produced this $30 million community resource.

The five-acre property, generously donated by D.R. Horton Hawai?i, features a 27,000-square-foot “new generation” shelter designed to optimize the behavioral, medical and socialization needs of more than 10,000 animals each year and the people who visit them.

The family-friendly event will include a traditional Hawaiian blessing, community tables to learn more about our partners and pet-friendly resources, a keiki interactive area, food trucks, music and more.

Hawaiian Humane President and CEO, Anna Neubauer says, “The Hawaiian Humane Society has always provided services island-wide, but this expansion – the single largest in Hawaiian Humane history – will drastically increase resource accessibility for central and west Oahu residents, support collaboration with new stakeholders and create better outcomes for animals in need, “

“Two of every three West O?ahu households report owning a pet, which is the highest percentage on the island. The Kosasa Family Campus at Ho?opili will provide essential programs and services including spay/neuter, education, outreach, rescue response and adoptions to an estimated 17,000 individuals annually. Unlike our M??ili?ili campus, which has had to evolve to support the growing diversity of our work within a limited footprint, here we had the chance to create a unified entry with all of our services in a centralized place while incorporating Socially Conscious Sheltering best practices to provide animals with the best possible care.”

Designed by Pacific Asia Design Group in consultation with animal care facility and design architecture experts, Animal Arts, and constructed by Allied Builders, the Kosasa Family Campus implements innovative design features in accordance with shelter best practices to minimize stress and the risk of disease transmission for the animals in its care.

There will be phased launch of services, with pet adoptions being offered Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm and Pet Food Bank, Hawaiian Humane’s free temporary pet food assistance program, offered to those experiencing food insecurity, hosted every Sunday and Wednesday. Admissions services through the Kosasa Family Campus’ Ginny Tiu Pet K?kua Resource Center, including lost and found, animal admissions and additional services, will be offered to the public later this summer. The Kosasa Family Campus’ Ginny Tiu Community Spay/Neuter Center also will open in the next few weeks. Members of the public are encouraged to continue visiting the Humane's M??ili?ili campus if they are seeking animal support services and spay/neuter services during this time. Additionally, the Kosasa Family Campus’ community dog park will open to the public later this year to allow grass and vegetation to mature.