Your opinion is critical to shaping the future transit hub and library! The draft Environmental Assessment was published on 3/23. Comments are due May 1, 2024. There are several ways to participate and provide input:
Mahalo for joining us at our April 17 community meeting! The project team is reviewing your comments to incorporate into the Final Environmental Assessment. The PowerPoint slides from the presentation are provided below.
At this meeting, members of the community had the opportunity to learn about the project, ask questions, and provide written comments with a focus on site selection and potential design features of the future hub. Meeting agenda, presentation and a summary of meeting notes are provided below:
At this event, informational boards were on display showcasing the project information. The public also had the opportunity to participate in activities focused on their preferred site and what services or features they would like to see in the future hub.
Makuʻu Pop-up
Makuʻu Pop-up
Makuʻu Pop-up
Community Meeting #1
To implement this goal, the County of Hawai‘i Planning Department and Mass Transit Agency (the County and MTA) are initiating the planning phase of a Transit Hub in the Pāhoa region. MTA launched public outreach in 2019 along with initial identification of locations for consideration of a transit hub. Two community meetings were held in March and July 2019, where 13 possible locations were proposed and ranked. Of the 13, three sites were removed from consideration. This project evaluated the remaining 10 sites based on a variety of factors and identified three preferred sites. Community input is currently being sought on these top three sites (click here to learn more and provide your input).
In addition, the County entered into discussions with the Hawai‘i State Public Library System (HSPLS) regarding co-location of the transit hub with a new State library. HSPLS intends to construct a new library in the Pāhoa region and desires to support the County’s Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) initiatives and explore the possibility of co-locating the library with the future transit center. Co-location of these key public services will enhance the ability of both facilities to serve the Pāhoa community and advance TOD principles. This project has received $100,000 from State TOD Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) Planning funds and $350,000 from HSPLS CIP funds to support the planning study for the transit hub and co-located library.
The current project has three main purposes:
Community engagement has been conducted throughout the project process. Currently, the project is in the process of going through the Envrionmental Assessment process, a preliminary schedule is shown below.
Initial Site Selection Process
The Project Team initially introduced Seven Evaluation Criteria to evaluate physical site characteristics, availability of infrastructure, access and environmental characteristics of the 10 potential sites. These criteria address site development constraints and opportunities. Each criterion is assigned a weight (1pt-5pt) based on its relative importance in the decision, where 1pt is the least important and 5pt is the most important. In addition, the potential sites are rated against each criterion and multiplied by the weightings. The total scores are then to use in ranking the 10 sites, resulting in three preferred sites.
Top Three Preferred Sites
1: Click on the blue "i" icon to learn more about the pros & cons of each site
2: Click anywhere in the document to add a comment.
Previous Effects on the Site Selection
Based on community polling, Site #2 was the overwhelming preference as a potential site for the Pāhoa Transit Hub and Library. This site appears on the project Environmental Assessment as Alternative 1.
Below is a conceptual drawing of what the transit hub and library could look like, and the design features that it could include. The design will be customized to fit the final preferred site. Click on the 
button to view example pictures of some design features.
Expanded physical collection
Technology, digital resources and high-speed Wi-Fi
Community meeting spaces
Library program spaces
Reading areas
Information and self-checkout areas