The County of Maui, the State of Hawai‘i, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its contractor, Dawson, LLC, celebrated the start of construction for a 169-unit temporary housing site in Lahaina, Hawaiʻi, with a ground blessing ceremony Saturday, May 4.
The 34-acre site is located off Cane Haul Road near Wahikuli Road in Lahaina. It will be named Kilohana, which means lookout point.
“Early on, FEMA committed to making Maui’s healing as important a priority as its rebuild and recovery,” said Thomas J. (T.J.) Dargan, Federal Coordinating Officer. “This housing development is a part of that commitment to the people of Maui.”
Mayor Richard Bissen, in his remarks Saturday, noted that this project is indeed another critical step for providing interim housing for wildfire survivors. “Kilohana will provide a sense of hope for residents as they begin to plan their future, and we are grateful for the many hands that will help build these temporary homes,” he said.
Contractors will begin site prep next week. Heavy construction is anticipated to take place mid to late May. The contractors will do their best to minimize disruptions throughout construction, although an increase in construction traffic is anticipated.
Preliminary surveys were conducted by USACE archeologists, and nothing of cultural or historical significance was found at Kilohana. Contractors will have an archeologist on site for all ground-disturbing activities in the event something is uncovered.
To prepare the site for the housing units, the Corps of Engineers and its contractors will need to grade and blast the land to level the housing pad sites and install utilities to include power, water and sewer. It will take approximately six months to complete this work due to the size of the project and the site being on top of hard rock. Once constuction is complete, the Corps of Engineers will turn the site over to FEMA for the installation of the housing units. As sites become available, FEMA may initiate installation of housing units before the entire site is complete.
COL. Eric Swenson, USACE Recovery Field Office commander, said, “Although this is only one housing initiative of many that will be needed for the recovery process, it is very rewarding to know that 169 more families will soon have a place to call home.”
The project is funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the State of Hawai’i.
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| Date Taken: | 05.04.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.04.2024 21:10 |
| Story ID: | 470342 |
| Location: | LAHAINA, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 269 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Construction of FEMA Kilohana temporary housing site to begin, by Shannon Bauer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
