Turtle Bay resort forms foundation; grassroots coalition cuts talks

Replay Resorts, the private equity firm pushing for development of five additional hotels at Turtle Bay, is forming a new foundation.

A PBN story describes it thusly:

Turtle Bay Resort has created a foundation to strengthen its support of the North Shore and Koolauloa communities on Oahu, the resort announced Monday.

I think that’s got the reasoning exactly backwards.

We should remember that comments on the court-mandated supplemental environmental impact statement just came due, meaning that the development process is moving right along.

Meanwhile, the grassroots North Shore coalition opposing the expansion of Turtle Bay resort has officially ceased talks with the developer, claiming that the supplemental EIS – which was released on Black Friday, the height of the holiday shopping season – is “woefully unsustainable.”

From Defend Oahu Coalition’s prepared statement:

This draft is so poor that it is impossible to compare the alternatives of the different development scenarios being proposed. Resort officials point to their meetings with the community and make representations that their proposals are a reflection of those meetings. They are not. The plans reflected in this Draft SEIS make it clear that the developer has chosen to ignore this community, and instead push for the same type of sprawling mega-resort that served to galvanize residents against their development in the first place. Their plan calls for a 2 to 300% increase in what is already there. Their plan aggressively pursues development still spread from Kawela Bay to Kahuku point. As is evidenced by this draft, resort representatives are not listening to public outcry over Turtle Bay. Their plan will cause irreparable harm to our communities.