A new public library in Keaau most likely will be built at Keaau Middle School, according to a project plan published last week.
A draft environmental assessment for a proposed new library to serve the Keaau and Mountain View communities was published Tuesday and lists five preferred sites for the 13,900-square-foot building, but rates a site at the Keaau Middle School as the most preferred.
If that site is selected, the project would construct a new library building on 1.7 acres of land that would be fenced off from the remainder of the school. That portion of the land, which currently is owned by the state and is set aside for the Department of Education, would be transferred to the Hawaii State Public Library System.
The library would be independently accessible from Keaau-Pahoa Road and would have 42 parking spaces, as well as spaces for EV charging stations. The facility also would include a technology lab, community gathering spaces, and new covered walkways connecting to the school.
The project is separate from plans to build a new library in Pahoa, but is motivated by the same problem: the increasing population of the Puna area has outstripped the abilities of existing library facilities to adequately serve the community.
The current libraries serving the area include the Keaau and Mountain View public and school libraries, which are aging and undesirable for several reasons.
“They were built in 1974 and 1977, respectively, and in the almost 50 years that has passed, the population of the Puna district has grown significantly,” according to statement by the Public Library System. “In addition, (those libraries) are located on public school campuses, limiting public access, and for several years, the Department of Education, state legislators and the Hawaii State Public Library System have wanted to relocate public libraries off school campuses.”
Because the current libraries are on school campuses, they cannot be sufficiently enlarged or upgraded to meet the expanding needs of the population, and have limited accessibility for nonstudents.
Several other potential library locations around the area were considered through an evaluation process last year.
A list of 12 sites was narrowed down to five likely candidates, with the Keaau Middle School location the most promising of those five based on several criteria.
The other four candidates were a 3-acre site at Keaau High School, a 3-acre site formerly used by the Hawaii National Guard as an armory, a 3-acre site owned by W. H. Shipman Ltd. on Mamalahoa Highway, and a 3-acre site located on Kamehameha Schools campus on Volcano Road.
The assessment does not list any drawbacks for the high school site, but the other three locations are considered less favorable because of the need to acquire them from their current users — the armory location, for example, currently is set aside for Hawaii County — or because of the need for time-consuming land use approvals and further site improvements.
The possibility of building a library in Mountain View also was considered, but rejected during the project’s initial planning phase in 2015 because of its less-central location.
A statement by the Office of the State Librarian suggested that bids for the project could be opened by the end of the year if all goes well.
Full construction is anticipated to be completed by 2027.
The draft assessment anticipates no significant environmental impacts will be caused by the project, and includes public feedback solicited earlier this year.
Most of that feedback was positive and included suggestions from residents about potential features and activities in the library — one suggestion, evidently from a student, recommended “a cat area so kids could pet them” — but some expressed concerns about the future of current school libraries, such as the one at Mountain View Elementary.
“Please don’t close our libraries that exist within the schools,” wrote Mountain View resident Caitlin Kryss. “Removing libraries housed within schools cuts students of from this incredible resource. … Our community is disadvantaged as it is, and this will only set us back further.”
Statements by the Public Library System in response to those testifiers repeated that existing library spaces at Mountain View Elementary will revert to Department of Education control for further use.
Further public comments will be accepted until June 22. Comments can be sent via email to keaa-mtview-library@hhf.com.
The draft environmental assessment can be viewed at tinyurl.com/4ut94e25.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.