Hawai'i Kai skate facility takes detour
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau
HAWAI'I KAI — The proposed skateboard and in-line skating facilities that the mayor has promised for the area will not be at Koko Head District Park after all.
Advertiser library photo • Dec. 11, 2000
Instead, those facilities may be built at Kamiloiki Community Park, below Kamiloiki Elementary School on Hawai'i Kai Drive and Lunalilo Home Road.
Reese Matsunaga, 21, a Hawai'i Kai resident, takes advantage of a new mini-ramp skate park at Koko Head District Park. Matsunaga said many skateboard riders in the Hawai'i Kai area have wanted a full-fledged skate park for a long time.
Several months ago, the city opened a temporary skating ramp at Koko Head District Park and later this month plans to erect a second ramp. But skaters want a full- fledged facility to accommodate all kinds of skaters, including street skaters, in-line and ramp skaters.
Putting the proposed in-line rink and skateboarding facility at the district park requires a thorough environmental review, a lengthy process that would push back construction at least two years.
Skaters and community members want to make sure the community won't object to the Kamiloiki Community Park plan, so they went door-to-door during the weekend talking to residents.
"I don't think we have time to wait," said Lisa Carter, a parent of in-line skaters and member of the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board. "If they wait two years, it will leave the kids out of the sport."
There are pros and cons with both locations, said Terri Christine Peck, a mother of two skateboarders.
The district park includes a 10,000-square-foot concrete pad with obstacles, lights and a water fountain. The Kamiloiki site would probably not have lights or the extras, Peck said.
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The Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board Parks and Recreation Committee will hold a meeting about the skateboard and in-line skating situation in the community and about the city's plans for Koko Head District Park at 7 p.m. Friday at the district park.
he city has allotted $500,000 to build the skateboard facilities.
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Talk about the situation
The facilities at Kamiloiki will be scaled down from what is being proposed at the district park, said Carol Costa, city spokeswoman.
"We have believed all along that we could go forward with a skateboard park and that doesn't require an (environmental impact statement)," Costa said. "We need to talk to the community and these are just some of the ideas being discussed now."
The locations proposed for the skateboarding facility would be near the recreation center on Hawai'i Kai Drive or on the small grassy field by the community garden used by soccer teams on weekends.
The proposed in-line skate rink would be below the school buildings on the dirt field by the parking lot.
The skating community received the support of Mayor Jeremy Harris last July when he promised teenagers he would build them a place to skateboard and in-line skate starting this July.
Skateboarders have been illegally skating at the underused Park and Ride facility on Keahole Street. In-line skaters take over the Kamiloiki basketball courts for practice and play games at Wilson Elementary School in Kahala.
"I think it's a good idea to go ahead and do it now," said Shaun Peck, a 15-year-old skateboarder. "We're in need of a skate park immediately. It's a pretty nice location."
