Irwin Park parking dispute heads to court
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
The state-backed Aloha Tower Development Corp. has filed suit in land court to remove land restrictions that limit development at 70-year-old Irwin Park.
Advertiser library photo • May 2, 2000
Irwin Park provides a bit of green space at the makai end of downtown Honolulu across from Aloha Tower Marketplace. The space also has 118 parking stalls.
Irwin Park, a little oasis of green in downtown Honolulu, has 118 parking stalls.
Aloha Tower Development, the state agency that oversees development of the Honolulu waterfront, has struggled to add more parking, making Aloha Tower more accessible to tourists and shoppers while keeping the area a park.
The owner of the marketplace also has proposed several parking solutions, all of which have met opposition and been rejected by the agency.
Program specialist Anne Lo-Shimazu said the state agency is now trying to clear the title for land.
The Scenic Hawai'i organization sees the move as another step to turning the park over to parking, said member member Cynthia Marnie.
"It's the most significant open place and historic open place, right there at the foot of Bishop Street," said Marnie, who noted that adding parking would mean the loss of monkeypod, banyan and coconut trees that have grown at the site for decades.
Helen Irwin Fagan donated about half an acre to the Territory of Hawai'i in memory of her father, William Irwin, in 1930 but stipulated that the land either be used as a park or returned to her family.
But Lo-Shimazu said that when the territory decided to build Nimitz Highway in 1952, officials asked Fagan's permission, and she waived her rights to the property. "That waiver should have been filed way back in the '50s," Lo-Shimazu said.
The state agency has challenged a move to place the park on the Hawai'i register of historic places.
A hearing has been scheduled for June 18.
