Kauai County seeks public review of Kilauea town expansion plan
Kauai County’s Kīlauea expansion plan could bring about 310 homes, new roads and a wastewater plant onto 55 acres west of town.
A 55-acre expansion west of Kīlauea town could add about 310 homes, commercial space, roads, park land and a wastewater treatment plant, putting one of the North Shore’s most consequential housing proposals into formal environmental review.
The Kauai County Housing Agency has invited the public to review the draft environmental assessment for the Kīlauea Town Expansion Project, a Section 201H affordable housing proposal in Nāmāhana Ahupuaa, Hanalei District, on the island of Kauai. The draft EA, prepared in May 2026 by Kahewai Environmental LLC and RJ Environmental Planning, was published in the May 23 edition of The Environmental Notice.
The project site sits west of Kīlauea town and northeast of Kūhiō Highway on parcels identified by TMKs (4) 5-2-005:024, 054, 058, 059, part of 059, and (4) 5-2-023:031, part of 031. The land is in the Agricultural and Urban State land use districts, is zoned Agricultural, lies outside the County of Kauai Special Management Area, and falls within the 2006 Kīlauea Town Plan area.
According to the draft EA, the proposal would include single-family homes, multifamily housing, duplexes and live-work units, along with commercial uses, roadways, bike and pedestrian paths, park and green space, and a wastewater treatment plant. The draft says the project is being reviewed because it would use State or County lands and funds and because it includes a proposed wastewater treatment unit.
The county’s project materials tie the expansion to the 2006 Kīlauea Town Plan, which called for a larger residential community, preservation of town character, and more affordable housing for residents. Earlier county materials also described acquisition of 50 acres, design work for a bypass road from Kūhiō Highway to the town core, and planning for a secondary public school, a commercial town center and a permanent farmer’s market.
Those same materials show the kinds of questions already surfacing around the project: water and wastewater capacity, traffic and congestion, emergency access, school impacts, town character and the risk of over-development. The county has said the expansion is being master planned to blend with historic Kīlauea Town and meet a serious need for affordable housing on Kauai’s North Shore.
The draft EA sets the project on a path that still requires a long list of approvals, including county grubbing and grading permits, building and construction permits, a county rezone, a State Land Use District Boundary Amendment, a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, a Department of the Army Section 404 permit, a Stream Channel Alteration Permit and NEPA review. The county has also said alternate formats such as large print, Braille or an electronic copy are available on request.
A community meeting on the project was held March 13, 2025 at Anaina Hou Community Park in Kīlauea, where county materials said revised site layouts, roadway options and project updates would be discussed. With the draft EA now in public review, the expansion has moved from concept and outreach into the stage where its housing promises and infrastructure demands are being weighed side by side.
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