Kamehameha Schools' North Shore plan wins award

The nonprofit Kamehameha Schools’ plan for 26,000 acres its trust owns along the North Shore of Oahu, “North Shore Plan: From Paalaa to Kapaeloa,” will receive a 2011 National Planning Excellence Award for Innovation in Sustaining Places from the American Planning Association, which will present the award at the association’s National Planning Conference in April.

Kamehameha Schools’ plan covers the trust’s agricultural, residential, commercial and conservation lands on the North Shore of Oahu. Conservation would total 15,000 acres, residential and commercial land along Kamehameha Highway would account for 2,000 acres and 9,000 acres would be used as agricultural lands. Of the agricultural lands, 2,500 acres are currently used for diversified agriculture, according to Kamehameha Schools.

Group 70 International and North Shore constituencies helped develop the plan 18 months beginning in 2007. It includes seven catalyst projects, including agriculture water system improvements, restoring the Loko Ea fishpond and developing alternative energy. Most of the projects are underway and expected to be completed in 2012.