Posted on: Wednesday, April 11, 2001
Contractor seeks Hawai'i Kai storage site
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau
HAWAI'I KAI — One of the contractors hired to replace the water mains on Kalaniana'ole Highway wants to use a portion of Maunalua Bay Beach Park to store equipment for the next 12 months.
But the plan is not sitting well with area residents and City Councilman John Henry Felix, who say that the location, near the bathhouse, is not appropriate for the ocean vista from the highway.
"It just does not fit in with the ambiance of the area," said Bob Fowler, a Hawai'i Kai resident. "It would not be something you'd want to look out on from a window seat at Roy's Restaurant or Outback Steak House."
The Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board voted against allowing Highway Construction Co. to use the space as a storage yard with a 6-foot-high chain-link fence around it for 12 months and then turn it over to the state Harbors Division.
Since the contractor first made its pitch, it has opted to not build a permanent storage yard, said Randall Ching, Highway Construction Co. president.
Ching said he is open to suggestions for a site that will work for the community and for his job.
"This was the only available space that we know of," Ching said. "As long as someone knows of other locations nearby, we're open to listening. We want to find a solution that will work for both of us. We understand that it's not that good a place, but it's the best place we could find."
The company needs to store equipment during off hours of construction of the $6 million project on Kalaniana'ole Highway to replace water mains from 'ļinakoa Avenue to West Hind Drive. Work began Monday on the project, which requires digging trenches to replace aging water mains, repaving, and installing wheelchair ramps.
Other sites in the area are more appropriate for equipment storage, Felix said. The contractor could use a portion of the Park and Ride facility on Keahole Street in Hawai'i Kai, the land that is slated to be home to the police station or the land owned by Kamehameha Schools on the same street, Felix said.
"I sure am concerned," Felix said. "To locate the site where they are proposing would be unsavory and intrusive. I've been working toward selecting an alternative site that would be less obtrusive, and I think it can be done. The present location is unacceptable."
