Battle of Ka Iwi coast hardly over

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau

Even though preservationists recently persuaded the state to scale back parking and road improvements on the Ka Iwi coast, a master plan approved in 1996 calls for a much grander plan that includes a cultural center, comfort station and another parking lot — all of which may prove to be ground zero for a much bigger battle in the future.

	Details of Ka Iwi Master Plan
•	The master plan lists three levels of use planned for the Ka Iwi Scenic Shoreline area. The first is very low intensity, with more preservation. The second calls for medium use, with features that emphasize interpretation. The third calls for high-intensity use, with expanded recreation opportunities. The plan, however, states that the consensus was to not promote the high-intensity use
•	The 'Ohana Council, a Hawaiian sovereignty group, had said it wanted to establish a healing center near the Makapu'u Headland Road that would provide counseling and activities for youth and promote the revival of ancient Hawaiian healing traditions. An area was drawn up where the old lighthouse keeper's cottages are. However, the council has not yet submitted any plans to the state. Here's what each level of use includes
•	Low intensity: Install off-road vehicle barriers at Wawamalu Ranch Wall and Kalaniana'ole Highway; clean up trash, boulders and headland building debris; restore shoreline vegetation, wetlands and trees; build a trail system; extend the lookout and parking lot for 40 cars and five buses; build a footbridge across the drainage channel, a 50-car parking lot at Queen's Beach and a comfort station. Part of the low-intensity plan is reflected in the first phase of work up for approval. Since the master plan was written, bus parking has been eliminated from the upper portion of the area and parking lot sizes have been reduced there.
•	Medium intensity: Establish a visitor center on the high spot next to the parking lot behind Ka'ili'ili Bay that will inform visitors of the resources and activities available in the area; create a botanical garden between the visitor center and the Kaloko Inlet with a display of native Hawaiian plants; replicate the Kaloko fishpond as a cultural and educational project of a traditional Hawaiian fishpond; create landscaped, shaded spots offering respite for walkers that would take advantage of the remote areas of the Ka Iwi site; build a comfort station at the Makapu'u Head lower parking lot.
•	High intensity: Expand the Queen's Beach parking lot to 100 stalls, if necessary; build an outdoor-activity pavilion in the open grassland, or a staging ground for such cultural events as a makahiki; establish campgrounds and comfort stations at Queen's Beach; create picnic sites, including benches and trash cans.

"There's a danger when the state talks about preserving an area and it develops it," said Henry Curtis, executive director of Life of the Land, a community and environmental think tank. "First, it will be a parking area and then it will be a big turnout area for buses, then water and bathrooms and signs.

"There's no doubt that at some point, someone would see the other side of the mountain as a dream place for building a restaurant."

In the nearly six years since the state unveiled its master plan for the area, many people seem to have forgotten that the parking and improvements mentioned at recent public hearings are only the first phase of many planned for the Ka Iwi coast.

The state has made no secret of its master plan, but it was not widely reported upon its release in 1996. And in presentations and public hearings on the first phase, there has been little mention of the development still to come.

At a public hearing last week on the state's scaled-down first phase, new concern emerged over what Ka Iwi could eventually become under the state's master plan, spurring calls for vigilance.

The plan was put together with residents, activists and environmentalists who all had different visions for Ka Iwi.

Three alternatives with varying amounts of building were proposed in different areas, said Dan Quinn, state Department of Land and Natural Resources division of state parks administrator.

Now "it's disheartening to hear that people are wondering where we got the ideas from," because the ideas came from those meetings, Quinn said.

The 'Ohana Council, a Hawaiian sovereignty group, came forward with a pitch for a cultural center and healing center at the Makapu'u headland area. From cyclists came bike paths. And still others, picnic sites.

For half a decade, the plan sat on a shelf while the state and the landowner, Kamehameha Schools, negotiated for the land.

In May, Kamehameha Schools agreed to sell the 316 acres to the state for $12.8 million, far below the $80 million the land trust previously said it was worth.

The only piece of the plan that is being put forth now is one small segment, calling for two lookout areas where the public now is able to walk and take in a scenic view of Makapu'u; a parking lot landscaped with native plants; and a parking lot down near the trailhead to the lighthouse, Quinn said. To accomplish this, some changes will have to be made to Kalaniana'ole Highway.

"When you look at the overall site, there's very minimal intrusion in overall acres," he said.

The Ka Iwi Action Council, a tight-knit group of individuals and environmental organizations that have fought over the years to preserve the area, feels that the state has been very responsive to the community's concerns, said Adrienne King, coalition spokeswoman. When residents voiced concern that the state-planned parking lots were too big, for example, the state revamped the plan.

"That's just the concept," King said of the master plan. "Just because it's written down doesn't mean that it will happen."

"You can't do more than what's in the environmental impact statement, but you can do less," King said. "Our position has always been (for) low impact."

Quinn said the public is concerned because of heightened awareness from the city's plans for Hanauma Bay, which includes a $10 million education center, gift shop, restaurant and offices.

"We're not doing the same thing, and not nearly (on) the same level of Hanauma Bay," Quinn said. "Hanauma Bay was already pretty improved before the city started."

This leg of work in Ka Iwi — placing utilities underground, improving safety at the lookouts, adding parking lots and restoring a portion of the old King's Highway, built for King Kamehameha III in the 1830s — will be paid for with about $8 million in federal transportation money.

Half of the money went toward the land purchase and the rest will go toward the cost of the improvements, Quinn said.

Once the state is through with building two parking lots along the Kealakipapa Valley and a new lookout area, it can't afford to come back anytime soon with other improvements, he said.

"I don't see a push coming to upgrade Ka Iwi for years in the future," Quinn said. "There are a lot of other areas that need attention. The park system is in serious need of repair and maintenance."

When and if more money comes available to do more in Ka Iwi, the community is going to have to be vigilant, Curtis said.

"All the environmental groups, every one of them, kept saying the same thing: We don't want concrete on that side of the highway," said Charlie Rodgers, Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board chairman. "If you put 40 parking stalls in, 40 cars will be there. If you put in 80 stalls, there will be 80 cars."