The Honolulu energy consulting firm, RP Delio & Co plans to develop one of the first multi-source microgrid projects in Hawaii through the use of solar, wind, hydroelectric and battery storage technologies on an existing organic fruit, vegetable, fish and nut aquaponics farm.

The $500,000 East Kauai project already has a 20-kilowatt solar and small wind project, which is under an old feed-in tariff program that allows owners of energy producing projects to sell electricity to the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative at fixed rates for a period of 20 years. KIUC does not have a FIT program anymore.

The farm’s 80-kilowatt expansion includes adding up to 20-kilowatts of power through the use of up to a couple more small wind turbines, solar photovoltaic canopies, battery storage, an electric vehicle charging station, and four solar trackers. Delio has submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help fund about 25 percent of the cost of the project. The special funding is earmarked for renewable energy projects being developed on operating farms.

The Kauai project, which just finished up its design, is scheduled to be in service later this year. (Source: Pacific Business News)

The 4th of July weekend is upon us here on Kauai! It’s a time to blend Hawaiian traditions of family & friends with the holiday. Families, friends & visitors will be getting together for the weekend and bbq'ing and doing their own firework shows. Here are a list of planned events happening all over the island this weekend. We hope everyone has a happy & safe holiday weekend!

KEKAHA
Independence Day Freedom Celebration at PMRF – Friday, July 3 - 5-10 pm
Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands is hosting its Stars & Stripes Freedom Celebration from 5-10pm on Friday, July 3rd. The general public is welcome to this complimentary, family-friendly event on the grounds of Shenanigans restaurant. Dishwalla is headlining the live musical entertainment along with local acts followed by a heart-pounding fireworks display. Food, games and craft booths are available throughout the evening. Guests can enter the base through the Kokole Point gate (adjacent to the county landfill) on Kaumualii Highway beginning at 5 p.m. where free parking is available on base. Watch for signs on the highway for directions. All vehicles and backpacks are subject to search: This is a drug-free event and no outside food or beverages, coolers, tents, pets, weapons (including knives of all types) or personal fireworks are allowed. Beach umbrellas can be used. For more information, please call (808) 335-4446.

Kekaha Fourth of July Celebration Event - Saturday, July 4 - 4:00-9:30 pm
Celebrate the 4th of July in the beautiful town of Kekaha. Bring family and friends to enjoy cultural demonstrations, a variety of crafts, a plantation museum along with games and rides galore for the keiki. Local entertainment will be featured throughout the day along with contests, a talent show and much more. There will be food for sale, a fireworks display accompanied by live music in honor of our Hawaiian military men and women. This is a non-alcoholic and drug free event (no coolers), however you can bring your mat or beach chair. Parking is available adjacent to Faye Park in Kekaha. For more information, please contact Lyndon at 808-634-5248.

POIPU
4th of July Pool Party at Poipu Beach Athletic Club – 21 and over - July 4 - 12:00 - Sunset
The First Annual 4th of July pool party is the hottest party in Poipu! It is hosted by the newly renovated Poipu Beach Athletic Club from 12pm to sunset. Over 21 year olds are greeted with water slides, beer gardens, delicious food from Hapa’s Restaurant and music from DJ’s Momona Beats, Kana, Evan.D and guest DJ Super CW. There is also a fashion show hosted by Kauai made Kaikini Bikinis! Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. Please call 808-639-7077 for questions and ticket information.

LIHUE
Kauai Hospice 26th Annual Concert in the Sky - Saturday, July 4 - 4:00-9:30 pm
The Annual Kauai Hospice Concert in the Sky is the island’s largest firework display! This event taking place from 4-9:30pm at Vidinha Stadium and features 3D fireworks at 8:30pm choreographed to a 20-minute soundtrack especially created by Hospice just for Kauai. The on-island premiere of Hawaii’s Super Group “The Rough Riders” starring Henry Kapono, John Cruz and Brother Noland with an all-star band is headlining the event. Other performances include “Not My First Rodeo” and “Tsunami Taiko” with a formal presentation of colors at 5pm by the Kapaa High School JROTC. In addition, there will be Keiki Games, water slides, bounce houses and more. Amazing food options are available at affordable family prices, plus a silent auction, crafts and a keiki novelty tent. Admission tickets are available now at all Kauai Times/Big Save Markets, as well as the Kauai Hospice Office. Advanced Ticket Prices are $10 for Adults and $5 for Keiki (6-12) with Keiki 5 and younger being free. At the Gate it will be $15 for Adults and $7 for Keiki (6-12) while Keiki 5 and younger are still free.

KAPAA
4th of July/1st Saturday Kapaa Art Walk - Saturday, July 4 - 5:00 - 9:00 pm

A recurring major event on the Royal Coconut Coast is the First Saturday Art Walk, held in Kapaa’s Old Town every month.  July 4th and August 1st will be the next dates that Kapaa merchants and restaurants stay open late offering many specials. Artists, food vendors and musicians set up along the street with musical performances throughout the town. The event has grown in popularity drawing hundreds of residents and visitors.

Jack in the Box is yet another business on track to open in the Hokulei Village Shopping Center in Lihue. It will be open by mid-July, and employee training for the store is already underway. The 2,891-square-foot restaurant  will employ about 75 people.

Other tenants in the shopping center include Petco, which opened on Monday, a 56,000-square-foot Safeway lifestyle store, which is slated to open during the second quarter of this year; and a Chevron gas station.

In addition to a 24-hour drive-thru, the 54-seat Jack in the Box restaurant will also have customized interior murals designed by Las Vegas-based artist Lisa Kotero that highlight Kauai landmarks such as the Kilauea Lighthouse.

Honolulu-based Scanlan Management LLC, which is a part of Blue Pacific Management, LLC, owns the 33 Jamba Juice in Hawaii, also operates 29 Jack in the Box restaurants in Hawaii and one in Guam.

The vacation rental/B&B issue is one that is on both residents and potential buyers/seller's minds and tongues lately as the Kauai County has started to crackdown on those operating illegally in either category. The county was originally targeting transient vacation rentals or TVRs when the issue of B&B's became a larger issue due to the fact that residents can no longer apply for TVR permits.

TVR Permits - Ordinance 864

Here on Kauai, a TVR permit is required to legally run a vacation rental on island. Ordinance 864 was passed by the County Council on February 21, 2008 and was signed into law on March 7, 2008. This requires a TVR permit to operate a short-term rental less than 180 days. In other words, if you don't have a permit, you can't get one.

To get around the law, some of those TVR’s became B&B’s because there was less regulation. That's when the county stepped it up, and now, Kauai’s B&B’s are paying for it. “Once we crack down on some of these illegal ones, they’ll have to decide whether to sell it back, and our hope on the council is that some of our local families may be able to repurchase some of these properties and get it back into the hands of some locals,” said Ross Kagawa, Kauai County Councilmember (Source: KITV). Many of these B&B operations have been shut down since March during the time when Kauai County changed the rules that regulate them.

B&B or Homestay - Bill #2578

Here on Kauai, a "homestay" or B&B is defined as "an owner-occupied dwelling unit in which overnight accommodations are provided to transient guests for compensation, for 180 days or less, within the same dwelling unit in which the owner or lessee resides, or in a guest house." This has been a way for residents to operate a short-term rental without a TVR permit. Bill #2578 defines this even further, defining a "homestay" as one that requires the guest accommodation to be within the property owner's primary residence, and that the owner currently qualifies for a homeowner's exemption. 

Kauai Visitor Destination Areas

If you are considering buying a property on Kauai that you intend to rent out short term (as a vacation rental), you'll want to familiarize yourself with Kauai's VDA zones. If your property falls within a VDA zone you are not required to have a TVR permit to run a short-term/vacation rental. There are only a few areas on Kauai that are designated as VDA.  Princeville is the only town that is entirely within the VDA.  Some, but not all of Poipu is within the VDA, as is a small area of Wailua/Waipouli, and Nawiliwili/Niumalu.

Recent Council Meeting

The Council held a public hearing on May 19, 2015 to allow the public to voice their thoughts and opinions regarding proposed Bill #2578. Owners have been receiving cease and desist letters, requiring that they shut down all operations within 14 days and cancel all upcoming reservations. It's been very inconvenient for those B&B's who are scrambling to get permits so they can get back up and running.

“A lot of the public that have operated B&B’s has said that as far as they’ve known for all of these years, when they’ve called the planning department, they didn’t need any permit. They could just operate as is and that was a mistake,” said Kagawa. Alexis Bollini, who owns Marjorie's Kauai Inn Bed & Breakfast, said she was glad to be able to meet with councilmembers to discuss this issue. "I think our concerns were heard, we met one-on-one with a lot of them which we haven't done before today," Bollini said. "I think they want to do something fair."

The Future of B&B/Homestays

For those homeowners that have yet to apply for a usage permit, they are now in a tough spot since the county currently approves only 10 additional permits per year. It’s a process that many B&B’s are telling the county will not only kill their business, it will also hurt Kauai’s economy. There have been hundreds of Kauai residents who have submitted their case to the county to justify the need for a larger amount of permits accepted each year. June 19, 2015 was the deadline for submitting the applications and the county is now in review of these applications. These regulations will continue to affect the real estate market as they drastically limit the inventory of vacation rental properties outside of VDA zones.

 (Photo taken by Lori Finch at pre-opening)

The first Safeway in Lihue will open in August and is located at the corner of Kaumualli Highway and Nuhou Street. This 122,400 square-foot Safeway anchored Hokulei Village is an exciting addition to the Lihue shopping experience. This will be the second Safeway in addition to the Kapaa location. New stores at the center include a juice company, Panda Express, PetCo (now open) Verizon Wireless, Bank of Hawaii (inside Safeway) and Jack in the Box. 

A new addition for tasty grinds is set to open in mid-July at Kukui Grove Center. Aloha Ramen is the newest addition to the family of food court tenants. Elsewhere at the mall, renovation work is under way at Genki Sushi and the Fun Factory. Located in the former Sweet Pia’s site between L&L and Ho’s Kitchen, the take-out restaurant will feature a variety of menu items including different types of ramen, gyoza and a selection of katsu dishes.

“Ramen has always been a popular Japanese cuisine and we’re excited to bring this food concept to Kauai residents,” Wade Lord, General Manager of the Kukui Grove center said. (Source: The Garden Island)

Work on Aloha Ramen is being done by Homestead Construction who just completed work for Pyramid Insurance which will celebrate its grand opening at the Kauai Bakery entrance in a few weeks, said Stacie Chiba-Miguel, Kukui Grove Center real estate manager. The Fun Factory will nearly double in size when the expansion is completed by the fall, and will double the number of games and attractions. Genki Sushi will feature more customer seating and upgraded equipment.

About 22.5 percent of Kauai Island Utility Cooperative's net electricity sales during the 2014 calendar year were supplied by renewable energy resources and energy savings, according to a report supplied to Hawaii regulators. KIUC said that of the 22.5 percent total, it gets 13.6 percent of its power from using renewable sources, with the balance being from efficiency measures.

That 22.5 percent exceeds its portfolio standard in 2013 by 3.5 percent mainly because of rooftop and utility-scale solar projects, Michael Yamane, chief of operations for KIUC, said in letter filed on Friday with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission. In addition to meeting this requirement, the utility also has met the requirement that at least 50 percent of its portfolio standard be met by electrical energy generated using renewable energy as the source.

With current renewable energy sources and the future activities, including hydroelectric, pumped storage, utility-scale solar and biomass projects, KIUC noted that it is on target to exceed the 2015 portfolio standard requirement of 15 percent.

In an effort to reduce its power cost, decrease it use of imported fossil fuels and increase the amount of energy generated from Kaua`i’s own resources, KIUC has launched a strategic initiative to generate 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2023.

With 23 stores on spread across four Hawaiian Islands, Honolulu-based Crazy Shirts has come a long way from its modest beginnings nearly 51 years ago as a small T-shirt airbrushing business on the sidewalks of Waikiki. But even with an additional 13 stores in four states on the Mainland, Crazy Shirts CEO Mark Hollander says there is still room to grow.

Though plans are still in the works to open a new store in California by the end of this year, those expansion plans kicked off on Monday with the opening of the company's fifth store on Kauai in The Shops at Kukuiula.

"As you look at growth geographically, with respect to brick-and-mortar stores, we've got a great footprint in Hawaii — it's really a great cross-section of all these wonderful areas for retail destinations, and it's something we're really, really proud of," Hollander said. "We look to continue to grow as opportunities present themselves. Kukuiula is a great case in point — it's a shopping center that has been around for a while, survived the downturn of the economy, and came on its own to be a spectacular shopping environment that is unique to Kauai."

He said the decision to open the 861-square-foot store within a two-mile radius of two other company locations, in Old Koloa Town and Poipu Shopping Village, is a part of "a strategy that has been successful us on every island and several Mainland areas." (Source: Pacific Business News)

The Kauai County Council is considering legislation to require hikers who disregard warnings to reimburse the county or state for the cost of search-and-rescue operations.

Bill 2589 notes an increase in search-and-rescue efforts utilizing the county’s Air 1 helicopter. Not only does it put emergency personnel at risk, it has a direct financial impact on the county due to overtime pay and fuel costs. In April of last year, 121 hikers were evacuated from the Na Pali Coast after being stranded due to rising stream waters. Fuel costs for Air 1 and overtime pay for firefighters and police officers totaled $3,561.

The bill includes such items as: compensation for employees devoted specifically for the purpose of the rescue operation, repair or replacement costs for any county equipment damaged in the operation, fuel costs, and legal fees associated with trying to recover those costs.

The bill also aligns the language more closely with state law, defining it as intentionally disregarding a warning or notice. Kauai County Councilman Mason Chock, who had been a Kauai firefighter for 11 years before retiring in 2005, introduced the bill last week.

“We need people to take a little better look at how they’re making their decisions,” he said. “Accidents are accidents. We cannot foresee when they happen. However, there are times when people make poor judgments.” Source: Pacific Business News

The newly renovated Kauai Shores, in Kapaa will be adding the Lava Lava Beach Club to their property. The first location was opened in Waikoloa nearly four years ago.

Lava Lava Beach Club Operations Director Nick Roschi said the new 250-seat restaurant will occupy an estimated 4,000 square feet in the former Kauai Sands Hotel, which was rebranded as Kauai Shores, an Aqua hotel last year after Honolulu-based Aqua Hospitality completed a $10 million renovation.

"We're going to mimic the model that we have in Waikoloa, so it's going to have a very similar menu," said Roschi (Source: Pacific Business News). "The only difference is that this Lava Lava Beach Club won't have the lodging aspect to it."

The Kapaa restaurant will employ approximately 100 people and offer a fusion of American and Hawaii regional cuisine featuring locally sourced products, Roschi said. He said the choice to open a Lava Lava Beach Club on Kauai was based on the hotel's prime location near the beach on the Royal Coconut Coast.

"Since we formed the leadership team that we have, we decided that we wanted to move in a direction of growth," Roschi said. "The concept itself is very site-specific, hence the name, so it really requires a very special place — a beachfront location where there's a lot of open space — and that location totally fits the bill. The other half of it is that there's nothing else like it on Kauai, so we're very excited to provide something that doesn't really exist there." 

The owner’s of the hotel helped to incentivize Lava Lava Beach Club through their partnership. "The owners of the hotel were very gracious with providing incentive funds to get this project going," Roschi said. "They put all of the money into the build-out, so the cost to us wasn't a whole lot. It's a partnership, and one of the big parts about doing stuff like this is creating relationships with them. They're just as excited as we are to get this open, so it's going to be a win-win for us, for them, and hopefully for Kauai."