A’awa Tree Updates

April 28, 2017

Yellow and or red ribbons have been placed around the trunks of the monkey pod trees along A’awa Drive that the City intends to remove. This has been done to give us a sense of how the tree canopy will be affected. Let the Mayor know that this will impact your quality of life and your property value.

April 23,2017

Robert Kroning Director for the City and County of Honolulu Department of Design and Construction presented the A’awa Drive repaving plan to the Board and community members during the last Board meeting on April 18, 2017. Council Chair Ron Menor also attended and had arranged that Mr. Kroning present the City’s plan to the WLF community.

Mr. Kroning informed the community that 15 monkey pod trees will have to be removed along A’awa Drive’s in-bound lane (see map for locations yellow highlight) and 10 monkey pod tree planters will be enlarged to accommodate the existing monkey pod trees (purple highlight). The parking along A’awa Drive will not be affected. The City intends to rebuild the planters of the removed trees and plant pink tecoma saplings (see below) instead of new monkey pod trees.

Of course, the Board and all but one of the many Owners who attended the meeting were horrified of the prospect that our beautiful A’awa Drive tree canopy would be decimated by removing 15 trees. The greatest concern for the Board is that this could greatly affect WLF property values. There are several studies that correlate the abundance of street trees with increases in property values and with that, an increase in City property tax revenue. The Board believes that the City is not doing everything in their power to save these trees.

The Board has demanded that the City come up with a new plan and that replacement of a monkey pod tree be replaced with new mature monkey pod tree. We are also working on other approaches to verify the City’s claim that they have no other choice but to remove the trees.

What can you do? Contact the Mayor’s Office.

Phone: 808-7684141

Fax: 808-768-5552

Website Contact Form: http://www.honolulu.gov/mayor/contactthemayor.html

Aawa Tree Removal MapTecoma Tree

 

April 14, 2017

At the next WLF Board of Directors meeting on April 18, 2017 @6 pm, the Director for the Department of Design and Construction for the City and County of Honolulu, Robert Kroning will be attending to provide an Aawa Drive repaving update to the Board and the community. It is probable that the City intends to remove several monkey pod trees along the inbound lane of Aawa Drive as part of the repaving project. We ask that if you can attend the meeting PLEASE COME TO THE MEETING TO VOICE YOUR OPINION.

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West Loch Fairways Association Board members met with city officials including Council Member Ron Menor at Asing Park during the September Board meeting regarding the removal of the monkey pod trees along the inbound lane of A’awa. The city officials assured the Board and members of the community that attended, that the City would provide proper notice to the Association prior to removal of any trees so that the Board could be part of the decision making.

The Board asks for your vigilance, in that, if you witness any person(s) removing or damaging any tree within West Loch Fairways to contact the Association immediately. If you believe the action you are witnessing is an illegal act, please call 911.

The West Loch Fairways Association’s Board of Directors has recently learned that the City and County of Honolulu, Department of Facility Maintenance and the Department of Parks and Recreation, Division of Urban Forestry are planning to remove the 36 Aawa Drive inbound lane Monkey Pod trees and their associated tree wells. The Board of Directors strongly opposes the removal of the Aawa Drive inbound lane Monkey Pod Trees and has written a letter to the Mayor stating its opposition. The Board believes that removal of trees will completely destroy the aesthetic value of our neighborhood and therefore has a detrimental effect on the property values of our members.

The Board is asking all our members to contact the Mayor’s office, City Offices, and Councilmember Menor’s office as soon as possible to assert your position on this matter. You can do that several ways:

Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s contact webpage: http://www.honolulu.gov/mayor/contactthemayor.html. Fill out the online form.

Call the Mayor: 808-768-4141

Fax the Mayor: 808-768-5552

City and County of Honolulu Problem Report: http://www4.honolulu.gov/cityhallonline/DIT0200/DIT0200_frmProblemReportFormInitiate.asp

Email: complaints@honolulu.gov

Call Councilmember Ron Menor: 808-768-5009 email: rmenor@Honolulu.gov

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