KRCA Homeowners
Board of Directors Meeting

Wednesday, February 25, 2015
6:30 – 8:30 pm
Kilauea Neighborhood Center

Kalihiwai Ridge homeowners can find official minutes to KRCA Board of Directors meetings by setting up their own Account Log In at www.associaonline.com.  They can assist you in getting your 7 digit homeowner number.  After you have that you will then need to set up a User Name and Password.  You can also set up having the Agenda to these meetings sent to you by e-mail the day before the meetings are held every month.


My Impressions

Our first regular board meeting of the year and much was accomplished. We have direction and approval from DLNR to bring the Outlet Works #2 into operational functionality by putting in a steel plate at the head wall to keep the lake at 15' and use a siphon and valves for regulation of the level during a storm event. This will allow for continued vehicle access to the spillway and no hazard of an open ditch. The Outlet Works #1 pipe and valve can also be maintained to have easier release of water to the easement holder's facility, and of course our cleared and functioning unmanned spillway is already very efficient at releasing water to the Kalihiwai River during a storm, it is just not wide enough.

The upstream embankments will also be filled and compacted where needed and then cut to a 3:1 slope for easier mowing next week. We can then begin to refill the lake during the February and March 2015 rains by about 1 foot a day with seepage readings taken each day during this refilling process and then weekly afterwards for 3-4 months. The intake Kalihiwai Ditch water can also be used for refilling the lake once the ditch is cleared and that water from Pohakuhonu Stream can finally be diverted back into the lake rather than going out to sea.

Clear direction is finally in place and with the results of the Seepage and Stability Study we can begin to design a spillway to have the lake hold water at 15'. As an example, if we widened the spillway design to 130' by 360' long instead of 460' long we would still have the estimated 46,000 sq feet (1 acre) of leveled grass based area needed to have an unmanned release of a large quantity of water quickly in a 100 year storm event. This would have the lake releasing water at the same level it does now, 15'6", but much more quickly as needed for keeping freeboard levels stable at the face of the dam. Specific designs will have to be drawn and approved by DLNR, but a consistent and stable full lake is indeed attainable. Outlet Works #2 could then be filled in as part of the downstream embankment work when the spillway is finally widened.

Keeping the lake full is also healthy for the dam itself. This fluctuating water level is not good for earthen dams and we know it is not good for the wildlife. It will be exciting to see all this come to pass in the year or two ahead. Views of the Kalihiwai valley, river and distant ocean will be even more revealed at the dam so our place name of Kalihiwai Ridge can finally be viewed by all our members. The access road has now created a pathway for safe pedestrian access to this amazing asset to be enjoyed by many for generations to come. I invite you all to walk down this new trail to a sanctuary, not just for the wildlife, but for each of our members living here at Kalihiwai Ridge.

Until we meet again.

Aloha,
Maggie Lea