Kailua residents to receive A&B survey seeking feedback on changes to Kailua town

Alexander & Baldwin mailed out out a survey this week to Kailua residents, asking for their feedback on Kailua town to fulfill a promise made at a neighborhood board meeting several months ago.

“We are fulfilling our commitment to engage with the Kailua community and listen to residents’ opinions and concerns,” said A&B spokesman Darren Pai in an email. “We want to hear what residents think about the issues facing Kailua Town and what they want for its future.”

The survey, conducted by Ward Research, was sent out to 16,000 residential households in Kailua on Monday, he said.

It asks 18 questions that request the participant to rate one’s level of satisfaction with the mix of shops and restaurants, efforts to manage vehicle and bicycle traffic, how tourism has affected one’s household, as well as overall efforts by A&B to keep residents informed about activities in Kailua.

Question No. 10 specifically asks about Pali Lanes, the bowling alley once slated for redevelopment, and asks for suggestions for what should be done with it, which includes three options: retain the Pali Lanes structure but repurpose the building for uses other than bowling; keep Pali Lanes and surrounding area as is for the purpose of bowling; and replace the Pali Lanes structure and repurpose the area to allow for uses such as green open space, social gathering area, town center, playground facility, events amphitheater or special events venue.

Our Kailua, the community group that launched a petition seeking to save Pali Lanes from demolition, urged its followers on Facebook to support the second option of keeping it as a bowling alley. The group said it would have liked an additional option of keeping as well as improving Pali Lanes.

It is also advocating for A&B to hold a public forum, and has launched a petition calling for one.

Pai said A&B put all commercial real estate development plans in Kailua town on hold in March to conduct a comprehensive community engagement effort. In the last six months, he said, A&B has been meeting with community groups, residents and business owners.

The survey was accompanied by a letter signed by A&B President and CEO Chris Benjamin and Sheila-Anne Ebert, manager of A&B Kailua Properties. A&B, the state’s fourth-largest private landowner, owns 90 percent of the retail buildings in Kailua.

The survey results will be publicly shared upon completion, A&B said, and used as a guideline for commercial property plans in Kailua town in the present as well as in the years ahead.

Those who complete the survey, which can be completed by mail in a postage-paid envelope or online, by Oct. 1, are eligible to win one of three iPads in a drawing to be held the following week.

Alexandar and Baldwin Kailua Survey Letter by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd