Council Tentatively Approves HPP Speed Limits

The Hawaii County Council today voted in favor of two bills establishing speed limits in Hawaiian Paradise Park.

Meeting in Kona, the council voted 8-0 to pass Bills 82 and 83 on the first of two required readings.

Bill 82 would establish a 15-mph speed limit on the unpaved side roads in the busy Puna subdivision, while Bill 83 would create a 25-mph speed limit on the paved side roads.

A third bill to establish a 35-mph speed limit on the subdivision’s four main access roads – Shower, Kaloli, Paradise and Maku`u drives – has yet to be taken up by the council.

If the council adopts any of the bills, Hawaiian Paradise Park would become the fifth private subdivision on the Big Island with legally established speed limits.

HPP consists of 8,804 agriculturally zoned parcels, most of which are about one acre in size.

Its population in the 2010 census was 11,404, an increase of 61% over the decade before.

Zendo Kern, the council member representing the western portion of lower Puna, was not present for today’s vote.