2021 Call for Spring Fellows
Pu‘uhonua: Envisioning a Resilience Hub for Ko‘olauloa
On October 27th from 1:45-2:45 pm HST, SHADE Executive Director Dean Sakamoto will be presenting progress on the Resilience Hub for Ko’olauloa as part of PBX20, a three day virtual event featuring expert-led webinars spanning the construction and design industries.
SHADE Institute is working in collaboration with +LAB Architects of New York City to begin its community engagement and preliminary design this fall.
Resilience Hubs are intended to function as places for everyday community activities as well as a safe haven in preparation for, during and following disasters. The Ko'olauloa District, which is located on O'ahu's North Shore has been identified by the City & County of Honolulu as its most vulnerable region related to coastal hazards.
Dean will be joined by community leader Dotty Kelly-Paddock and Illya Azaroff, Principal at +LAB Architects.
Find more details and instructions to register here.
Progress on Waipi’o Point Access Road Multimodal and Safety Improvements: Environmental Exemption, Funding, Construction, and Next Steps
Last month, SHADE Institute along with its consultants met virtually with the Department of Transportation Services (DTS) to discuss updates on environmental exemption, funding, construction, and next steps for the Waipi’o Point Access Road Multimodal and Safety Improvements (WPARMSI) project. SHADE is the project developer who is responsible for community relations, permitting, procurement, and management of project consultants. DTS is the responsible agency who will comment upon, and receive the project documents for permitting approvals, procurement, and management of construction of this project. Also present at the meeting were SHADE’s legal consultant, William Yuen, and planning consultant, Kawika McKeague from G70.
SHADE Fellow, Cuong Tran opened with a quick overview of the project and went over the Environmental Assessment Exemption Items for the project, which then lead into a discussion of the role of community support. Support was well received after SHADE presented to the Waipahu Neighborhood Board on the Thursday night prior. Meeting participants agreed upon a timeline of deliverables where SHADE and its planning consultant, G70 will produce the appropriate documents to send to DTS for approval in August. G70 representative, Kawika McKeague explained that the project is scheduled to obtain the Environmental Assessment Exemption under agency review and be confirmed before the end of August.
WPARMSI project leadership will continue to lobby for construction funding, which is estimated to be $6.8 million according to DTS representative, Renee Espiau. Council Member Brandon Elefante’s proposed bill for $1M toward WPARMSI construction was passed by the City Council and signed into law by the Mayor with the caveat that State funding matches it.
The Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) is currently being drafted by SHADE’s legal consultant, William Yuen to memorialize the roles, responsibilities, and gifting of this public interest design project’s development, planning, and design services to the City & County of Honolulu.
Once the MOU is completed this month, DTS will procure and manage the WPARMSI Project’s construction. SHADE Executive Director, Dean Sakamoto expressed his preference to continue to work with DTS and Espiau through completion of this unique and important project.
Waipio Point Access Road Multimodal & Safety Improvements (WPARMSI) Community Design Workshop 4.0
SHADE Institute and its community partners invited a range of stakeholders to participate in the Institute’s first virtual community design workshop. The workshop kicked off with introductions from SHADE’s 2020 Summer Fellows, who are graduate students working on the preliminary design phase of the project. Meeting facilitators provided a brief overview of the WPARMSI project. Fellows introduced SHADE director, Dean Sakamoto and project champion, Mary Pat Waterhouse. Workshop participants also provided their own introductions.
Fellows then provided a deeper look into project updates and the overall design proposal. SHADE Fellows will be completing the preliminary design phase this summer. This fall, the pre-final design phase will start and be completed as well. For more information, please refer to the presentation provided below.
Following the project presentation, the workshop divided into three break-out group sessions happening simultaneously. A series of 6 questions pertaining to the Waipio Access Point Road lead the discussion while break-out group leaders provided virtual tours of the site through an interactive map. Questions covered pedestrian safety, traffic flow along the road, flooding conditions, parking issues, among other concerns. Stakeholders gathered in small groups and discussed their feedback, shared their memories of the site, and debated the feasibility and potential of design proposals.
The meeting concluded with everyone coming back together from break-out sessions. SHADE Institute is seeking the valuable voices and stories of the community members—we encourage your input through our survey and questionnaire. We also welcome the opportunity to become further involved with SHADE through our Friends of WPARMSI Citizen’s Group where updates on upcoming neighborhood board meetings offer opportunities to publicly testify in support of this project.
*Deadline to complete survey: Sunday July 26. Winners will be notified by the end of the month.
