North Shore NewsThe Chamber is pleased to announce that Doug Cole, North Shore Community Land Trust (NSCLT) Executive Director, is this year’s North Shore Kama’aina of the Year. He will be honored at their Annual Christmas Party and Auction on December 13th at Waimea Valley. Chamber Board Chair Bill Quinlan remarked that, “We are particularly impressed by the many different areas that Doug has been involved in that have helped the North Shore become a better place to live.” Doug was born on Oahu and raised on the North Shore where he grew up surfing and playing water polo. He attended Sunset Beach Elementary School and Kahuku High School. He then studied at the University of California at San Diego where he graduated in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in history. Immediately after graduation, he returned to North Shore, Oahu. There wasn’t another place he’d rather be. “My childhood was always outside,” he says. “Immersed in this beautiful place that is the North Shore, you learn to appreciate the natural environment around you.” His parents, Sally and Peter Cole, instilled in him a commitment to preserve the natural surroundings and cultural heritage which makes the North Shore so unique. As a young boy in the 1980s, Doug remembers how they worked tirelessly to fight development on Pupukea Paumalu, a 1,129- acre parcel overlooking Pipeline, Rocky Point and Sunset Beach. This made a lasting impression of the importance of contributing to community. When he first returned to Oahu, Doug worked as a substitute teacher and swimming and water polo coach at Kahuku High School. Having previously earned his real estate license, he also honed his skills in real estate sales and property management. Over the years, he volunteered with numerous community organizations including the Sunset Beach Community Association (past president) and the North Shore Neighborhood Board. Since 2008 he’s worked at NSCLT, first as its Pupukea Paumalu Project Coordinator, picking up where his parents left off, and then as its first Executive Director. During this time he completed studies at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii Manoa and passed the Hawaii State Bar Exam. On Nov. 10, 2010, the same day he brought his first son home from the hospital, Doug was sworn into the bar. He soon realized that litigation was not for him. “I didn’t want to be fighting with everyone,” he says. That’s what he likes about working with NSCLT. He is able to take a non-adversarial approach and look for “win-win” solutions so that everyone ends up happier. The Pupukea Paumalu Project is an example of that happening, says Doug. Now that acreage is preserved as a park reserve for everyone to enjoy. This was accomplished by bringing many individuals, private groups and public entities together to iron out differences and gather funding. “It made sense to preserve that property, he says. “Even if we disagreed on how to get there, ultimately we had to agree on getting there. I like to be involved in trying to find those win-win solutions.” Doug through NSCLT has also worked to help preserve Waimea Valley, Sunset Ranch, and more recently over a thousand acres stretching from Kawela Bay to Kahuku Point. In addition, once an area is protected, the work doesn’t stop. There are pristine areas to continually preserve; visitor programs to establish, maintain and monitor; and public awareness campaigns and educational programs to develop. These efforts, he says, are to “try to keep the human footprint down” while enabling kama‘aina and visitors alike to appreciate and more fully enjoy the gem we know as the North Shore. However, Doug is a man who is reluctant to take credit. “I don’t think I’ve achieved anything individually,” he says. “I’ve just been fortunate in helping the community achieve great things.”
Doug Cole