Big Island council weighs Waikoloa housing funds amid evacuation route fears

Waikōloa Village could add nearly 1,000 affordable homes while 7,500 residents still depend on one main escape route in a wildfire, a mismatch that put public safety at the center of the County Council’s budget debate.

Mayor Mitch Roth’s proposed fiscal 2026-27 capital budget includes about $11 million to support nearly 1,000 new affordable housing units in Waikōloa Village, but it does not include money for evacuation infrastructure. That gap has drawn sharp criticism from wildfire safety advocates, who say the county is moving ahead with growth before fixing the road network residents would depend on if brush fire conditions worsened along the Kona side of Hawaii Island.

The concern is not new. A second Waikōloa evacuation route has been formally documented as needed since 2005, yet county and state officials remain locked in a stalemate over who should pay for and build the road connection to Queen Kaahumanu Highway. Waikōloa Village is landlocked and has only one main escape route, with no ocean evacuation option, a combination that has made it one of the state’s most vulnerable wildfire communities. Some analyses have put its fire risk at or above Lāhainā’s.

Residents still point to the 2021 Mana Road fire, when Waikōloa Village was ordered to evacuate and traffic reportedly jammed as confusion spread. That fire burned more than 40,000 acres on Hawaii Island. In response, the county began annual Hulu Street evacuation drills in 2022, and Hawaii County and Civil Defense later moved toward a formal Waikoloa Village evacuation traffic study. The study, being done by KLD Associates under contract with Civil Defense, is meant to measure how long it takes people to get out during an emergency and to examine challenges for kūpuna and other residents. It will look at existing routes, including Waikoloa Road and the Hulu Street emergency route, while also considering future needs.

The safety debate has sharpened as new housing rises around the village. Nā Hale Makoa, a 139-unit affordable workforce rental project plus one resident manager’s unit, broke ground in September 2024. The county opened its waitlist in November 2025, and occupancy was expected in the first quarter of 2026. For groups such as the Wildfire Safety Advocates of Waikōloa, the Waikoloa Village Association Firewise Committee and the Waikoloa Community Emergency Response Team, the message is straightforward: adding homes without a second evacuation route leaves South Kohala more exposed, not less.