Image Credit: George and Sandy

By The Garden Island

The county’s opportunity to blaze a trail forward on the eyesore that is the former Coco Palms resort may have passed many months ago when permit extensions were granted to the current owners, but Kauaians got two stark reminders in recent weeks of what could have been.

First, as Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. made his controversial decision to push forward with the makai alignment of the multi-use path on Wailua Beach, some opponents argued the county should try a more mauka route, adjacent to the canal behind Coco Palms.

There has been idle talk of turning the Coco Palms property — leveled to its embarrassing, derelict state nearly two decades ago by Hurricane ‘Iniki — into a park and cultural center as a way to preserve the heritage of the coconut grove, the fishpond (already recognized on the National Register of Historic Places) and the hotel site itself, once a vacation home to visiting royalty from Hawai‘i and Hollywood.

Last week, a fire — possibly started by squatters trying to stay warm — torched the retail annex at the property’s north end.

County officials said the blaze caused $80,000 in damage, but with costly demolition the impending next step for developers, it’s hard to imagine that the fire had much of a negative impact.

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Source: The Garden Island